Claire Coutinho has been thrust into the spotlight after winning one of the top jobs in government. It marks a major step up for the little-known Rishi Sunak ally, who has only been in parliament since 2019 and has held junior ministerial roles for less than a year.

The 38-year-old – a loyal supporter of the PM who regularly took to the airwaves on his behalf during last summer’s leadership contest – has a similar background to Mr Sunak.

Like the PM, she is the child of Indian emigrees. While Mr Sunak’s mother ran a pharmacist, Ms Coutinho’s parents are both doctors who came to the UK in the 1970s.

Like Mr Sunak, the bright high-flyer was privately educated (at James Allen’s Girls School) and went on to study both Maths and Philosophy at Oxford University.

And like Mr Sunak Ms Coutinho worked in finance – beginning her career at Merrill Lynch before moving on to KMPG, before leaving the City and joining Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice.

The RSPB has apologised for calling Rishi Sunak, Michael Gove and other Tory ministers “liars” over plans to scrap water pollution restrictions on housebuilding.

The conservation charity said sorry for attacking the senior politicians personally over the latest post-Brexit regulatory move – having posted the claims on X, formally known Twitter.

The organisation had written that ministers “said you wouldn’t weaken environmental protections”, before adding: “And yet that’s just what you are doing. You lie, and you lie, and you lie again.”

Nadine Dorries’s book on the downfall of former prime minister Boris Johnson will be delayed by over a month due to “the huge volume of material the author has consulted”, publisher HarperCollins has said.

The former MP’s book, titled The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson, had been scheduled for release on 28 September, just before the Conservative Party conference.

It will now be released on 9 November.

Ms Dorries, one of Mr Johnson’s most loyal allies, has been an outspoken critic of Mr Sunak and has been accused of timing her resignation to inflict maximum damage on the PM.

She announced she would quit months ago but finally confirmed her departure on Sunday. It means the byelection in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency will be held at the end of September or start of October.

The Tory Party conference will take place from 1-4 October.

Conservative Party special advisers were reportedly responsible for the Ministry of Justice blocking a freedom of information (FOI) request in what amounted to a  breach of the law.

The advisers told ministry transparency officials last year not to release submissions made about the department’s now defunct plans for a British bill of rights, The Times reports.

They subsequently refused to sign off the disclosure for months, causing the department to breach its statutory duties to respond to the request in a reasonable time, the paper said.

The law states that public bodies should respond to FOI requests within 20 working days.

The legislation was dropped after Dominic Raab, the former justice secretary, was forced to resign amid a slew of bullying allegations against him.

Labour has accused the government of turning a blind eye to the problem of fly-tipping, claiming that only 8 per cent of reported incidents lead to any form of punishment.

In the fiscal year 2021/22, 1,091,019 cases of fly-tipping were reported in England, yet only 91,013 fixed penalty notices were issued, as per the Labour analysis based on data from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).

This means 92 per cent of those responsible for illegal waste dumping have avoided punishment.

A shadow minister has accused Rishi Sunak of “giving jobs to his friends” as she claimed the government was still a “sinking ship” despite the prime minister’s cabinet reshuffle.

“It really doesn’t matter how many new jobs Rishi Sunak gives to his friends,”Emily Thornberry, Labour’s attorney general, told broadcasters in Westminster.

“It’s still just moving the deckchairs. They’re still a sinking ship.”

She also said Grant Shapps was a “talented politician” and hopes he listens to the “experts” in the Ministry of Defence.

“I think that Grant Shapps is a talented politician, I wish him well, and I hope he listens to the advice of the experts who will be in the MoD,” she told broadcasters.

The foreign secretary has paid tribute to Ben Wallace, describing him as a “rock solid figure for our country”.

James Cleverly wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Ben, you’ve been a rock solid figure for our country, our party and for the Ukrainian people.

“You’ve defined what it means to serve your country. Thank you.”

Tory MP David Johnston has been appointed parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Education, replacing a promoted Claire Coutinho.

Mr Johnston, who was first elected in December 2019 and represents Wantage, takes on the vacated role in Rishi Sunak’s mini-reshuffle.

Claire Countiho has been confirmed as the new energy secretary as Rishi Sunak carries out a mini-reshuffled.

Ms Coutinho, outgoing education minister, replaces Grant Shapps, who took over from Ben Wallace who resigned as defence secretary.

With no experience in the military or department, the appointment of Grant Shapps as defence secretary may have come as a surprise to many.

But it appears the former energy secretary may have already started building relationships in Ukraine, which will be at the top of his in-tray when he starts at his latest government department.

He visited Kyiv last week. “What I saw in Kyiv… was a people resolute in their defiance against Putin’s tyranny and Russia’s aggression,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“And a nation standing strong and powering ahead in spite of constant attacks.”

Mr Shapps’s visit was an official trip as the energy secretary and he met with “senior government ministers” and energy company leaders.