Pensions Minister Guy Opperman joins exodus

Pensions Minister Guy Opperman MP has become the latest Government minister to resign this morning. Mr Opperman has served as Pensions Minister since June 2017. His five-year tenure made him one of the longest serving Pensions Ministers. He formerly served as a Government Whip and has been an elected Conservative MP for Hexham since May 2010. He published his resignation letter this morning. In his letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Mr Opperman said: “I am proud of what we have achieved at the DWP. I want to put on record my thanks to the DWP civil servants and ministerial teams I have worked with to produce and pass five Acts of Parliament, grow workplace and state pensions to record levels, and passing the ground-breaking Pension Schemes Act that dramatically reforms pensions in the UK. “I could go on, and there is much more reform I would have liked to have done, but I have to ask you to step aside.” In the letter he wrote that he had been “particularly upset at the behavior of the Number 10 team during the Covid restrictions” and “recent events have shown clearly that Government simply cannot function with you in charge.” The letter called for Mr Johnson to step down. On his social media Mr Opperman added: “It should not take the resignation of 50 colleagues, but sadly the PM has left us no choice”. Mr Opperman is one of a raft of Government ministers and figures who have resigned over the past 48 hours. Treasury minister Helen Whately was also amongst the minister’s to announce resignations this morning. In her resignation letter she told the Prime Minister “there are only so many times you can apologise and move on.” She has served the Government as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury since 2021. She was formerly Minister of State for Social Care and has been a Conservative MP since 2015. Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and Treasury Economic Secretary John Glen were amongst the resignations announced yesterday. It is not yet know who will replace Mr Opperman and Ms Whately.

Pensions Minister Guy Opperman joins exodus

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