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Thérèse Coffey

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38

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2020-07-17

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2020-07-17

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1

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1. “And no particular reason why it will ever happen again. There are a lot of tests afterwards. It's not like, dare I say, having a stroke or something like that. Issue, but yeah, bad luck affects very few people, obviously very relieved that once they eventually found out what it was, that a very nice surgeon, very nice medical team, and of course all the support of nurses afterwards to help me recover as well as district nurses and similar. But yeah, it was in hindsight a very near, very, very near miss. And I have to say it's made me even more enjoying life, taking advantage of it. It's a very special thing that we enjoy. You can be gone tomorrow and just cherish what you have.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

2. “Yes, well, it was actually two years ago. Within a matter of days almost, I've probably a bit run down by working very hard, an ear infection all of a sudden, basically went into my brain and started off with something, I suppose, I think it's called mastoiditis, then I later discovered I had meningitis. And it became a brain abscess. And I took myself to the pharmacist, doctor, A&E, A&E second time. It's only on the second time, it's my sister who phoned the hospital and just said, I've never ever known my sister like this ever. So they did an MRI scan and then they operated on me within a few hours. And I was hospital in nearly a month.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

3. “Absolutely. It's not a photograph of which I'm proud. If it had been circulated on a little WhatsApp group, then it might have been a bit fun, but there we are. There's nothing I can do about this.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

4. “There's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do about it. It's history. You can't change history. You can't rewrite history”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

5. “I think it was a very hot day. I was at a spectator party and I do enjoy a cigar. And what I hadn't realised is that perhaps I'd spilt something on my top. But there we are. So I looked very hot, but it was a nice evening and it hasn't put me off. But I have to say, as a direct result of that, not only will you never see me smoke a cigar in public ever again. However, I wear scarves, so there we go.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

6. “Well, I think I enjoy singing karaoke tracks, which other people will join in. And I think this is a great track. Isn't it great for a politician? Don't stop me now having a fun time.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

7. “Well, I had that planned and then of course it coincided with the leadship contest so that made it even more interesting. But we held it in office just off Central Lobby and the enjoyment was so much that we got sold off by the doorkeepers. They came in and turned us down. It was just a genuine chance after what had been a very tense time, I think it's fair to say, in the run-up to the referendum, all of a sudden the Prime Minister announcing at the time that he was going. And this was just a genuine opportunity. No sectarianism in any way about who would come to the party. And people just enjoyed it and relaxed.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

8. “Correct, and she karaoke is a great uniter healer. Not all my parliamentary colleagues like doing it, but it's just a chance for people to relax and have a bit of fun. It's something you can't actually do a lot of as an MP. And there is something here about creating social moments for people to enjoy each other's company in a slightly different way.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

9. “Well, another five years and three months, whatever. But I think it's fair to say that DWP have been through a number of secretaries of state and the civil service have just got on with things, which is great. But I think there's a wider issue that sometimes happens with reshuffles is, and I don't blame in any way the civil service for this, if you think you're going to get a change of leadership, then you may not quite work at the same pace on the current leaders' ideas and all the rest of it. So it's more that sort of thing that's actually perhaps a bit more disruptive. It's best not to worry about these things, and I don't.”

   2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

10. “I think as of today, I'm the third longest serving Secretary of State for DWP since 2010. In a month's time, if there isn't a reshuffle and if I stay there, I'll be the second longest only to IDS. How long do you need?”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

11. “The approach that was taken on the conferences is largely this was a health driven issue but it was quite a lot of it was announcements that were to be made and perhaps not so much in the traditional press notice way but as part of some of the initiatives that were being undertaken right across government and to be open about it DDB we were entirely focused in that initial time on making sure that we actually help the millions of people who were turning to us many of whom for the first time in order to make sure that they could get their benefits quickly on time all those sorts of things as well as the existing we already did”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

12. “As the Chancers said regularly, none of us are pretending we can save every job that people have today. But as I say, the schemes that were announced last week, the clear intention of the Prime Minister with the bill, bill, bills and the jobs jobs jobs approach is that we will invest in British people. We will invest in this country. And we have, I have great confidence that the work that we are doing now, especially in the next six to nine months, will significantly reduce the amount of long-term unemployed people that could happen if we just didn't quite go full, fully leaning in with the approach that we've taken. So I'm not putting my head in the sand or anything, Nick. We have got difficult times ahead of us, but I genuinely believe”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

13. “Of our schemes are going to help people get into construction who aren't already. That's not the only growth sector. There are green jobs, but it's not just going to be about wind farms, which actually has quite a small number of jobs. But if we can do more to get smart meters deployed, that will help with energy efficiency. It will help with achieving net zero. And those are the sorts of things that we can do and will be doing, I hope, when we get, I won't name companies, but bringing them in to make sure that they help us with a Kickstart scheme.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

14. “Definitely, and I'm actually very geared up and enthusiastic about the response that we've done with the furlough scheme. And it's had an amazing result. Of course, there are some more people unemployed, but not the scale it could have been without the furlough scheme, without the self-employed support scheme has been immense. And I think the thing that you see about the Prime Minister, about Boris, is you saw that when he was mayor of London. He's a great believer in just kind of getting on with certain things. But my impression from him is he's also accepts that sometimes things won't always work either, and there's a very much a dynamic economy and building that platform, building that bedrock to allow private enterprise to get going again with that confidence is really important to that. So, of course, a lot of work happening on construction. I'm absolutely making sure that...”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

15. “The way I have rejected the advice of rebrand DDBP to being Department for Winning the Premiership, but if we do it again next year.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

16. “I now represent Felix Doe, which did very well during the 80s in a very different mechanism. But, you know, just up the road in Manchester. You're Alma Marta. Actually, Manchester just got on with it and just didn't do so badly. And it actually genuinely saddens me. It's probably taken 25 to 30 years for Liverpool to recover. And it's a great city. I love it.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

17. “What do I remember growing up in Liverpool? So, as I say, both my parents were teachers, so I didn't have the whole private sector challenges, you know, what happened at Halewood. My uncle worked there and then he went and worked in a pharmaceutical company. Now, what I did see was after the riots, parts of the city destroyed. That was an awful time for the city. And then I did actually see the Conservative government come and get restore Albert Dock, now fabulous. What I did see was support for other parts in terms of trying to get the economy going, the International Garden Festival, Hesseltine came and did a lot there. So I don't actually accept the premise that all of a sudden that the Conservatives in any way abandoned Liverpool. What I did see was a very militant Labour council almost rejecting help, the issues that happened around the port so happened.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

18. “Well, to be open, Nick, I don't think of Catholic social teaching on a daily basis. I'm not reading encyclicals to try and... I suppose Leo XIII and Rare and Navarum was actually very pro-trade union and rightly so. But I think it's a case of we know that people working brings a sense of purpose, a sense of value for themselves. It's actually good for people's health. And of course work can bring stresses with it as well. But in a lot of ways it can also bring a sense of not being isolated. In many cases so it just generally is a social good as well as obviously a financial good for yourself.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

19. “Look, I'm not ashamed in any way of my faith. I'm very proud. And actually, one of the loveliest moments I've had in the last year was being part of the delegation to go to Rome for the canonization of Cardinal Newman. And the Prince of Wales led that delegation. And Rob Jenrick is the minister responsible for faith. But I was very humbled to be able to join that delegation. So that was probably something I would never have been able to access. And it's only through being a politician that I've met the Pope again through an environmental aspect, but also the previous pope. And so I have had some privilege from being a member of parliament and being a minister in something that's actually very special to me.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

20. “Well, I think I find most British people are happy for others to live and let live, and that includes people with faith being allowed to perhaps their views. I'm conscious that there are constituents who won't agree with my views on certain matters. But it's quite rare that we get into ethical moral issues in Parliament, actually. And certainly for the Conservative Party, they're almost always free votes. But it's...”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

21. “We are a very highly secular society and I think it's rare for somebody to go to church every week or to the temple or the mosque as a proportion of the population. That's okay. I used to be away more when I was an environment minister, so getting to mass was a key part of it. And it could almost always be accommodated. But yeah, I'd say I don't wear it on my sleeve, but I think you'll find most people in Parliament, although I'm not in the chamber as much as I used to be, to be honest, at the end of prayers every day, which of course the media is not part of and the TV cameras are off. I'll always end my prayers by doing the Catholic blessing yourself, which is, of course, also not something Church of England do. So it is there, but Nick, it's not a case of being proud to be Catholic. I am a Catholic, and I practice my faith, and that will come through in certain voting things and issues I'm passionate about.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

22. “Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And so it's actually been very odd this last few couple of months by not being able to go into church. Instead watching Mass on the internet.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

23. “But I've always liked to think that it does matter to me, but I try not to be a moralizer. It does matter to me, but it's just kind of a bit of my DNA, I suppose, is the best way of describing it. And I'd like to think it makes me a good person, empathetic to others, recognising that the best thing that we can keep trying to do is to give people hope. Because when people think hope that life can't get any better, then that has serious consequences. So it's very important to me that we are always striving to try and make sure that life can and should be better for people.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

24. “I think actually a lot of people do accept that things change. You know, if you think initially respiratory disease, we desperately need more ventilators. And so the big call went out to get more ventilators, new people trying different things, designing. Actually, it turns out quite quickly you were seeing the clinicians being able to devise other ways to treat people, which didn't require quite so much potential ventilation. And some innovation of that came from the designs that were going on. But it's okay. It's better to accept that we don't need quite so many ventilators anymore. We didn't need the number of hospital beds in the end, but it was right to be prepared and to make choices and decisions at the time rather than worry about in about eight months' time when a select committee might question why on earth did you create the nightingale hospitals when you didn't use them. You've got to make those choices then and there.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

25. “And on that basis we can then make a decision. But it's absolutely right. And I think what's been actually a huge strength of this government is that that science, when it keeps evolving, we are prepared to listen, look at it again and just say, do we keep with the same approach or do we actually change our approach? And I think we're seeing that quite regularly. And you could get attacked for saying, well, why didn't you do this first time? I mean, hindsight might be a great tutor, but it's we as a government haven't just dug our heels in so we don't change course. If we are learning new things, it's absolutely fine to then update your decisions and reconsider.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

26. “Ministers do decide, and I think it's fair to say I was trying to as part of that broader interview that I was having with another journalist, was trying to explain that we keep learning more. So assumptions that you may make on actually a very small amount of data or small amount of evidence, views on that and advice coming from that may well change as you learn more about issues. So we shouldn't shy away from the fact that the advice that was given to us at the time was absolutely the CMO and the CSA pulling together what they thought was the best interpretation of what they knew at the time.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

27. “I've certainly had some more briefings to go into that. One of the things that you see in science, but also in statistics, is sample size is a huge issue, understanding quite how you can extrapolate what's appropriate there. And certainly we're seeing with the test and trace, but other aspects of the ONS survey that sample size is increasing, and that's important. And it's one of the reasons why, for example, when we're making a lot of our decisions about benefits and considerations of that, the moment we use a survey that's got about 20,000 people in it, and I'm very keen to see what we can do to expand that so that we can have more of a consideration of a more regional or localised approach, as well as the different sort of cohorts that make up that. So it is important that we bring good analysis, and I'm thrilled actually in DBB. We have about 600 analysts, and it's a very important part of what we do in making sure we spend taxpayers' money well.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

28. “That's right. And it's a bit like if you get 100 lawyers in a room, you'll have 100 different legal opinions, but there may be themes that come out of that on which they agree, or you get extreme opposites. And I think that's true of scientists. They're used to doing peer review with each other, probing, challenging. But it depends on what kind of strand of science you're in. Physics tends to be a lot more precise. Biology is a lot more imprecise, actually, although there are fundamental principles which, of course, apply.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

29. “I think there's a lot of being driven by evidence, but also one of the things that you learn about science is that if you're in a new area, science can evolve, it can change, your understanding can change. And I'm absolutely driven by data. brought a lot of that to DWP. There's a strong element of making sure that we have a rational approach on matters, but at the end of the day, also politics is not solely about rational numbers and statistics. It is about how you translate some of that into having a kind of an emotionally intelligent approach as well.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

30. “Think it's definitely a way that helps you almost train your brain and the kind of a evidence-based, systematic approach in a different way to other people who may have studied history or something similar. I mean, Margaret Thatcher is the only person who's been a scientist who is Prime Minister. I appreciate Theresa May did geography, depending on which one you study, can be more scientific or not. But by and large, most of our politicians have not had that element of education or training. And I think it does bring a different dimension. Absolutely.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

31. “Yes, structural reactivity studies abysmido complexes of molybdenum six. Like a lot of science, Nick, probably about ninety percent of it went wrong, about ten percent succeeded. But I think I created 17 brand new compounds.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

32. “Well, at one point, I wanted to be a lawyer, and then I think I was inspired by Hill Street Blues, but I spent some time working in Celic and didn't particularly enjoy it. And actually, that's when I got my love of chemistry. It kind of sparked.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

33. “As part of the Young Conservatives, there are quite a few other Liverpool politicians who are conservatives who I didn't know particularly at the time. We just got involved in local Conservative Association and it's, I have to say, it's one of the reasons why I still thoroughly enjoy going to party conference, although sadly that's not happening this year, because let's be open with it, it started to become a bit more lonely being a conservative in Liver”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

34. “Well, I think definitely my mum was from the Conservative family heritage, as it were. My granddad was in the army and my grandmother, maternal grandmother, was actually Irish and they always seem to be a conservative side. I think it's fair to say on the coffee side, my dad's side, I wouldn't say that was universal. Certainly my sister was actually the first person to get involved in the conservatives in that sort of timing and got me involved a bit and then we all got involved. very fond of my home city as you know I'm a big Liverpool fan and it sometimes surprises people that it was actually a Liverpool politician Liverpuddlean politician who was conservative who founded Liverpool Football Club admittedly a long time ago it was just the case that I actually thought that Margaret Thatcher and the concertes showed that that was a better way of running the country.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

35. “Tribe, I could have well been a trade unionist because I've always been quite motivated. Getting things done, improving things. And I suppose that is one of the facets which made me actually think about politics as being a way to really have positive change for people.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

36. “Many people may find this hard to believe. I actually had a conservative MP as a child. And it was in the 80s where that all changed. And both my parents were teachers in state schools, actually in Catholic schools, one primary, one secondary, and it wasn't really until militant took over and then did that famous taxis with the redundancy notices. That's when it made me realise it mattered who ran the council. And frankly, the way that they behaved, and when I speak to Labour people today, including Labour people from Liverpool, they're not particularly proud of that era in the running of the city. And that's when it made me realise that actually the rest of the country seemed to be getting on rather well. And that was Margaret Thatcher leading that way. So that's probably the transition that happened. I'm sure if I'd grown up in other sorts of circumstances, I've always could imagine myself potentially if I'd been part of the”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

37. “I did. I was only there for about six months in the end because I also got then selected as the Conservative candidate and clearly I was going to be able to run and get elected for Suffolk Coastal.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

38. “Yes, three times. When I lived in Liverpool, certainly I remember walking down to the one on St. Mary's Road in Garston. And then after university, in between me kind of finishing my PhD, I certainly signed on then to get some support, particularly on things like national insurance credits. That was in Maryland. And then actually, after I stopped work, which allowed me to run full time as an MEP candidate in the southeast in 2009. And I just missed out, probably thanks to the MP expenses scandal at the time. So I didn't get elected and I had to find a job. So again, in order to make sure things like my national insurance credits and some other bits of support, I went and signed on in Andover, in Hampshire where I was living there at the time. And then very fortunately, I then got a job at the BBC and worked as a property finance manager there.”

    2020-07-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Thérèse Coffey One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source