Guy Opperman

Opperman was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire and was educated at Harrow School, an independent all-boys boarding school. Opperman has a degree in law from the University of Buckingham and a first-class diploma from the University of Lille, in France.[4]

Opperman was called to the bar in 1989. He spent 20 years as a barrister of which 15 years were spent predominantly at the criminal bar. Opperman prosecuted and defended in a number of murder and rape trials.[5]

While a barrister, he did many years of pro bono work with the Western Circuit Free Representation Unit and the Bar Pro Bono Unit, providing free legal assistance in hundreds of cases on behalf of Victim Support and Citizens Advice Bureau.[6] The Times named him "Lawyer of the Week" in 2007 and was awarded the Bar Pro Bono Award by the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith QC, for his voluntary work on behalf of victims in Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals.[7] In 2009, the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland QC, presented him with a Pro Bono Hero award in the House of Commons for his work on preventing hospital closures.[8] He is now a "door tenant" at 3PB and is no longer in active practice at the Bar having committed to being a full-time Member of Parliament.[6]

Opperman previously stood for election to Parliament in Swindon North at the 1997 general election and for Caernarfon in 2005. He was a Councillor in Kennet from 1995 to 1999.[9]

Opperman led a legal campaign to oppose the closure of the NHS's Savernake Hospital at Marlborough which he credited with saving his mother's life from cancer.[10]

Opperman was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham in Northumberland. He was one of the first MPs in the United Kingdom to employ an apprentice.[11]

In September 2012 Opperman was appointed as Private Parliamentary Secretary (PPS) to Mark Harper, the Immigration Minister at the Home Office.[12]

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. He called for his party to do more to show it supports "the hard working 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".[13]

In 2015, Opperman was named by the 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.[14]

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".[15]

Opperman was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions on 14 June 2017.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18]

Opperman faced criticism in October 2017 for pulling 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.[19]

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".[20][21]

Opperman has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions since June 2017.[16] His brief includes pensions and financial inclusion.

In October 2019, as Pensions Minister Opperman introduced new Environmental, Social and Governance regulations (ESG).[22] 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'.[23]

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.[24][25]

In October 2020, the Pensions Schemes Bill returned to the House of Commons for Second Reading.[26] Opperman said the Pension Schemes Bill will make pensions 'safer, better and greener'.[27] 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.[28][29][30] In November 2020, the Bill passed the House of Commons at Third Reading and Report Stage.[31]

Guy Opperman has raised almost £10,000 for charity including over £4,000 in 2011 for the National Brain Appeal at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery which he credits with saving his life after suffering from a brain tumour.[48] He and Labour MP Paul Blomfield, who also had a brain tumour in 2011, walked the first section of the Pennine Way in 2012 to raise money for Headway UK. In 2012, Opperman walked 280 miles from Sheffield to Scotland raising £2,500 for the Great North Air Ambulance.[49] In 2016, Opperman was shown to be tumour free in a scan 5 years since his original diagnosis.[50]

Opperman was a director of his family engineering business until 2009.[51] On 2 June 2017, during his general election campaign, Guy married his partner Flora.[52] In June 2020 the couple had twin boys who died shortly after birth.[53]

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.[54]

In 2010, Opperman's blog was named as in the top 30 of all MPs by Total Politics magazine.[55]

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.[56]

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 TUC 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.[57]

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.[58]

In February 2020, Opperman launched a podcast Beyond the Bubble.[59] 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 MP's Dehenna Davison, Sarah Atherton and Jacob Young as well as comedian and former Labour advisor Matt Forde.[60]

• Guy Opperman MP official website
• "Guy Opperman". Conservative Party Profile. Conservative Party. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
• "Guy Opperman". Members. 3PB Barristers.
• Hexham Conservative Association
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou