Rishi Sunak has played his last, best card. Now he must pray for a miracle

Claire Coutinho didn’t need a career in politics. She was on the banking fast-track, a maths graduate snapped up by Merrill Lynch and on the kind of conveyor belt that guarantees a comfortable life. She ditched it for public service, first working for charity and quickly impressing Rishi Sunak, who hired her as an adviser. He couldn’t let her go when she entered Parliament at the last election, and kept her as his parliamentary aide. Her promotion to Energy Secretary yesterday is one of the few