British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is coming to India for the G20 summit, carried out a mini-cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, moving the energy secretary Grant Shapps to defence to replace Ben Wallace who announced in June that he quitting politics.

He has also promoted the Indian-origin Claire Coutinho from minister of state at education to be new energy secretary in his cabinet. Her Goan family came to the UK from Pune.

The home secretary, Suella Braverman (née Sue-Ellen Cassiana Fernandes,) is also of Goan origin.

Coutinho, who was born in 1985 into a family of seven siblings, studied maths and philosophy at Oxford. She worked as an adviser to Rishi when he was chief secretary at the treasury and then chancellor. She is a strong supporter of the Prime Minister.

Her Christian parents arrived in the UK in the 1970s. Her father Winston was an anaesthetist, and her mother Maria is a GP in the NHS. Coutinho was privately educated at James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich.

The change at the ministry of defence comes at a critical time when the war in Ukraine shows no sign of ending. Only last week, Shapps was in Ukraine to discuss energy security.

Wallace, a former officer in the Scots Guards, was a popular defence secretary who pushed aggressively for lethal weaponry such as long-range missiles for Ukraine.

At one stage, his supporters urged him to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party but he endorsed Liz Truss instead.

Wallace, who was appointed defence secretary by Boris Johnson in 2019, said in his letter of resignation to Rishi: “The United Kingdom is respected around the world for our Armed Forces and that respect has only grown more since the war in Ukraine. I know you agree with me that we must not return to the days when defence was viewed as a discretionary spend by the Government and savings were achieved by hollowing out.

“I genuinely believe that over the next decade, the world will get more insecure and more unstable. We both share the belief that now is the time to invest. Ever since I joined the Army I have dedicated myself to serving my country. That dedication however comes at a personal toll to me and my family.

“After much reflection, I have taken the decision to ask that I be allowed to step down. I won my seat in 2005 and after so many years it is time for me to invest in the parts of
life that I have neglected, and to explore new opportunities.”

In his reply, Rishi told Wallace he had served the UK “with distinction” and that “your strategic foresight and clarity has been invaluable to our country and the security of our continent….in the most difficult of situations, you have displayed exceptional judgement”.