51 Facts About Guy Opperman

Guy Thomas Opperman was born on 18 May 1965 and is a British former politician who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Roads and Local Transport from November 2023 to July 2024.

Guy Opperman previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion at the Department for Work and Pensions between 2017 and 2022 and Minister of State for Employment from 2022 to 2023.

Guy Opperman was educated at Harrow School, an independent all-boys boarding school.

Guy Opperman has a degree in law from the University of Buckingham and a first-class diploma from the University of Lille, in France.

Guy Opperman spent 20 years as a barrister of which 15 years were spent predominantly at the criminal bar.

Guy Opperman is 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.

Guy Opperman previously stood for election to Parliament in Swindon North at the 1997 general election and for Caernarfon at the 2005 general election.

Guy Opperman was a councillor in Kennet from 1995 to 1999.

Guy 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.

Guy Opperman was elected at the 2010 general election as MP for Hexham in Northumberland.

Guy Opperman was one of the first MPs in the United Kingdom to employ an apprentice.

In September 2012 Guy Opperman was appointed as Private Parliamentary Secretary to Mark Harper, the immigration minister at the Home Office.

Guy 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.

Guy Opperman called for his party to do more to show it supports "the hardworking people in our public sector".

In 2016, for the sixth successive year Guy 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".

Guy Opperman was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions on 14 June 2017.

Guy 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, Guy Opperman was asked how people using food banks could be helped.

Guy Opperman said the Conservatives would raise the minimum wage and the tax threshold.

Guy Opperman suggested that people "must get better at handling money".

Guy Opperman served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions from June 2017 to September 2022.

In October 2019, as Pensions Minister Guy Opperman introduced new Environmental, Social and Governance regulations.

Guy Opperman said the Pension Schemes Bill will make pensions "safer, better and greener".

On 10 June 2022, Guy Opperman overtook Steve Webb to become the longest-serving pensions minister since the post was created in 1998.

On 7 July 2022, Guy Opperman resigned as pensions minister, making his resignation the 52nd in the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis.

Guy Opperman was succeeded by Alex Burghart on 20 September 2022.

Guy Opperman was appointed Minister of State for Employment by Rishi Sunak on 26 October 2022.

In November 2022, Guy Opperman launched the 50 plus champions campaign to tackle economic inactivity and unemployment within the UK workforce.

On 6 December 2022 Guy Opperman appeared on the BBC panel show Question Time hosted by Fiona Bruce.

Guy 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.

Guy Opperman generally voted against measures to prevent climate change.

Guy Opperman voted against a motion that would have forced a vote on a bill to ban fracking in October 2022.

Guy Opperman led the campaign opposing Whittonstall and Halton Lea Gate's open cast coal mines in his constituency.

Guy Opperman was 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, Guy Opperman campaigned against payday lenders.

Guy Opperman came together with a group of Northumbrian locals and church leaders to set up the Northumberland Community Bank.

Guy Opperman campaigned 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.

On 8 August 2013, Guy Opperman declared his support for the Living Wage in an article for the New Statesman.

Guy Opperman campaigned for, spoke in favour, and voted for the Marriage Act in 2013.

Guy Opperman later voted for an amendment supporting same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

Guy Opperman called for action for further support to children in refugee camps.

Subsequently, Guy 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.

Guy Opperman is a supporter of the Union and "passionately" campaigned for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

In October 2012, Guy Opperman had his first book published, Doing Time, an examination of the prison service and offender rehabilitation in the United Kingdom.

Guy 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".

Guy Opperman co-authored the report "All Hands on Deck" with Laura Farris for the Centre for Policy Studies in November 2018.

In February 2020, Guy Opperman launched a podcast, Beyond the Bubble.

Guy Opperman was a director of his family's engineering business until 2009.

Guy Opperman is an amateur jockey and rode his first winner in 1985.

Guy Opperman 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.

In 2016, Guy Opperman was shown to be tumour free in a scan 5 years since his original diagnosis.