A former Conservative deputy prime minister who lost her seat at the last general election applied for a job in Labour’s Treasury department.

Thérèse Coffey also had a stint as the health secretary and was one of Liz Truss’s fiercest allies when she was prime minister.

Coffey, who is one of more than 200 former Conservative MPs forging a new career after Labour’s landslide election victory cost them their seats, applied to become the UK director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Telegraph reported.

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, who has been highly critical of Truss’s premiership and the Conservatives who backed her, ultimately decides who gets the job, as the candidate who gets the director-level role will work under her.