Thérèse Coffey and Liz Truss: friends who rose through the ranks together

As befits her stature as Liz Truss’s deputy, Thérèse Coffey was the minister entrusted with the first morning broadcast round of this new government.

It mostly passed smoothly, with Coffey repeatedly highlighting her “ABCD” priorities for the health service and playing down the ruthlessness of Truss’s reshuffle.

The only glitch came at precisely 8am on LBC, when Coffey was suddenly distracted by a noise to her side. “I’ve just realised my alarm is going off on my phone, I apologise,” Coffey said. “You’re getting a bit of Dr Dre. It’s just an 8 o’clock alarm.”

In another interview, Coffey admitted that she had to remind herself to now refer to her old friend as the prime minister. Their rise through the ranks has been a