Introduction
Guy Opperman, a British politician, has been the Department of Work and Pensions’ Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion since 2017. He was initially chosen as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham during the general election in 2010 as a member of the Conservative Party.
Early life
| Name | Guy Opperman |
| Net Worth | $4 million |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Age | 57 years |
| Height | 1.75m |
Guy Thomas Opperman, now 57 years old, was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, in the United Kingdom on May 18, 1965. He received his education at the exclusive, all-boys boarding Harrow School. Opperman has a first-class certificate from the University of Lille in France as well as a law degree from the University of Buckingham. In 1989, Opperman received his bar admission. He practiced law for 20 years, 15 of which were mostly spent at the criminal bar. Opperman represented and prosecuted clients in a number of rape and murder cases.
In hundreds of instances, Opperman provided free legal counsel on behalf of Victim Support and the Citizens Advice Bureau while serving as a barrister with the Western Circuit Free Representation Unit and the Bar Pro Bono Unit for many years. In 2007, The Times named him “Lawyer of the Week,” and Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, presented him with the Bar Pro Bono Award for his selfless advocacy on behalf of victims in Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals.
He received a Pro Bono Hero award in 2009 from the attorney general, Baroness Scotland, for his efforts to stop hospital closures, which were acknowledged in the Commons. After deciding to become a full-time Member of Parliament, he is now a “door tenant” at 3PB and is no longer actively practicing law. Opperman previously ran for election to Parliament in Swindon North in the 1997 general election and for Caernarfon at the 2005 general election. He was on the Kennet council from 1995 to 1999. In order to prevent the closing of the NHS Savernake Hospital in Marlborough, which he credits with saving his mother’s life from cancer, Opperman organized a legal effort.
Parliamentary career
Guy Opperman was elected at the 2010 general election as MP for Hexham in Northumberland. He was one of the first MPs in the United Kingdom to employ an apprentice. In September 2012 Opperman was appointed as Private Parliamentary Secretary (PPS) to Mark Harper, the immigration minister at the Home Office. Opperman has previously described himself as “rather on the left” of the Conservative Party and has previously opposed regional pay but supported the Living Wage, regional banks, and industrial activism.
the hardworking people in our public sector”. In 2012, the New Statesman magazine summarised his positions on low wages, corporate responsibility, and apprenticeships in an article called “Meet the Tories the left should be frightened of”. In 2015, Opperman was named by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) for an outstanding £161 in expenses due back. However, the IPSA subsequently apologised due to an error, stating; ”We have failed you and the public” in a letter to Opperman. In 2016, for the sixth successive year Opperman coordinated the collection of more than 300 toys for disadvantaged children in north east England as part of the Northumberland Conservatives’ Christmas appeal, “Buy One More Toy”.
He was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions on 14 June 2017. Footage from 2013 was uncovered showing him stating that he understood what it was like to live on a zero-hours contract because he once worked as a £250-per-hour barrister. Weeks later, in response to the group Women Against State Pension Inequality, he was quoted as saying that older women who face cuts to their state pension could take up apprenticeships as a route to re-employment.
Opperman displeased audience members in October 2017 when he pulled out of a pensions fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in an apparent attempt to avoid a nearby protest staged by Women Against State Pension Inequality. At a hustings event for the 2019 election, Opperman was asked how people using food banks could be helped. He said the Conservatives would raise the minimum wage and the tax threshold. He also suggested that people “must get better at handling money”. Opperman has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions since June 2017. His brief includes pensions and financial inclusion.
In October 2019, as Pensions Minister Guy Opperman introduced new Environmental, Social and Governance regulations (ESG). These required a pension fund to update its statement of investment principles and broadly take into account ESG factors when considering its strategic approach to investment. In an article written for The Times, Opperman argued that, “Pensions should be harnessed to fight the climate emergency”. In a speech at the Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) investment conference in March 2020, Opperman announced the public consultation on new non-statutory guidance for trustees of occupational pensions schemes on the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.
In October 2020, the Pensions Schemes Bill returned to the House of Commons for Second Reading. Opperman said the Pension Schemes Bill will make pensions “safer, better and greener”. The Bill seeks to make pensions safer by giving the pension regulator more powers to tackle pension scams, better by introducing a pension dashboard and greener by going further on climate change disclosure. In November 2020, the Bill passed the House of Commons at Third Reading and Report Stage. On 10 June 2022, Opperman overtook Steve Webb to become the longest-serving pensions minister since the post was created in 1998. On 7 July 2022, Opperman resigned as pensions minister, making his resignation the 52nd in the 2022 United Kingdom government crisis. He was re-appointed to the position on 8 July.
Political positions
Guy Opperman supports the right to choose and does not support any changes to the present law. Opperman has spoken in favour of changing the law on assisted dying and spoke of his anger in 2015 at the defeat of the Assisted Dying Bill. He argued that: “This Bill does not threaten the lives of vulnerable people. It will not lead to more deaths, but to less suffering”. Opperman supports action to tackle climate change. Opperman led the campaign opposing Whittonstall and Halton Lea Gate’s open cast coal mines in his constituency.
Opperman was also strongly opposed to the plans of a new open cast mine at Dewley Hill, describing the plans as a “climate change disaster waiting to happen”. Since being elected in 2010, Opperman campaigned against payday lenders. He came together with a group of Northumbrian locals and church leaders to set up the Northumberland Community Bank. The bank was launched in 2015 by the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. The community bank is a not-for-profit financial cooperative, offers secure savings and loan facilities as an alternative to high cost credit – with any surplus being used to enable and grow services in Northumberland.
Hecampaigned and introduced a motion in the House of Commons calling for a review in the fuel duty paid by the Great North Air Ambulance Service. This resulted in the Government exempting emergency services from aviation fuel duty in the 2014 Budget. The measure saved the Great North Air Ambulance up to £25,000 per year. In 2012, Opperman walked from Sheffield to Scotland and raised £2,079 for the Great North Air Ambulance service.
On 8 August 2013, Guy Opperman declared his support for the Living Wage in an article for the New Statesman. In this article he asked: “How and why did we let it become acceptable for a full-time job not to pay enough to live on?”. Opperman campaigned for, spoke in favour, and voted for the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act in 2013. During the debate, he described the UK as being on a “journey”. Opperman later voted for an amendment supporting same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.
In 2014, Opperman travelled to Syria, to see the impact of humanitarian aid in refugee camps on the Turkey–Syria border. He called for action for further support to children in refugee camps. Subsequently, Opperman held a specific debate in Parliament on the plight of Syria Refugees and UN Resolution 2139 relating to the provision of aid in Syria itself. Opperman is a supporter of the Union and “passionately” campaigned for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
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In October 2012, Opperman had his first book published, Doing Time, an examination of the prison service and offender rehabilitation in the United Kingdom. In it he offers a consideration of re-offending, prisoner training, drug rehabilitation, prison management and payment by results in the prison system. Opperman is a member of the Advisory Board of the High Pay Centre and has co-authored an essay with Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Trades Union Congress General Secretary Frances O’Grady entitled “Better Business: Moral Matters”. In the essay he contrasts community-focussed businesses in his Northumberland seat with the lack of responsibility demonstrated by the banking sector.
Guy Opperman co-authored the report “All Hands on Deck” with Laura Farris for the Centre for Policy Studies in November 2018. The report details how businesses and employers can do more to close Britain’s productivity gap by increasing flexible working. In February 2020, Opperman launched a podcast, Beyond the Bubble. The podcast aims to look at politics from outside the traditional “Westminster Bubble”, by talking to MPs and key figures. Guests have included new Conservative MPs Dehenna Davison, Sarah Atherton and Jacob Young, as well as comedian and former Labour advisor Matt Forde.
Wife
Guy Opperman is married to his wife Flora Coleman, they had their wedding in 2017. His wife is a privte person and they have two children. However, on June 2, 2017, during his general election campaign, he wedded his partner of four years, Flora Coleman, who is 20 years his junior. In June 2020, the couple had twin boys, who died shortly after birth. Opperman is an amateur jockey and rode his first winner in 1985. He continues to ride and has won a number of point-to-point horse races, including at Downhills, Corbridge, just after his selection as the Conservative Party Candidate for Hexham in 2009.
Guy Opperman net worth
How much is Guy Opperman worth? Guy Opperman net worth is estimated at around $4 million. His primary source of income is from his career as a politician. Guy Opperman’s salary per month with other career earnings is over $400,000 dollars annually. He is one of the richest and influential politicians in the United Kingdom. His successful career has earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy car trips. Guy Opperman stands at an appealing height 1.75m and has a good body weight which suits his personality. Opperman was a director of his family’s engineering business until 2009.