• 2016- Rt Hon Theresa May MP-Conservative Government;

• Pensions Minister ~ May 2015 ~ July 2016; Baroness the Rt Hon Altmann CBE of Tottenham,

   A Mere Butterfly of Political and Personal  Opportunism ~ Veni; vedi; but did not Vici;

• Under Secretary of State Pensions ~ July 2016 ~ June 2017;  Mr.Richard Harrington MP;

• Under Secretary of State Pensions ~ Mr. Guy Opperman ~ Incumbent  June 2017 to date.

Right Honourable Mrs Theresa May M.P. commenced her appointment as Prime Minister on the 13^th July 2016.

But before leaving this part of 2016 well and truly to history, the Bugler should deal with the political fallout following the ‘Brexit’ Referendum particularly in respect of governmental changes which produce the very gloomy prospects for  all pensions in the foreseeable future. 

Because it is quite clear that the May government attaches very little importance to those in the workplace who wish to save for their post-work future in the form of work based pensions.

Theresa May’s appointment by the Conservative Party as Prime Minister, because she was not publicly elected to the role, was another one of these political ‘night of the long knives’ which placed the assassination of Julius Caesar in the genre of a mere footnote to political history.

It immediately became clear that those under May’s new squirearcy who had hung their flags of personal political loyalty on the Cameron masthead were to be immediately condemned to the political block and the abyss and thus it was for Baroness the Right Honourable Altman CBE of Tottenham, who as Dr. Altmann, took up her appointment as Pensions Minister on the 14^th May 2015 with her new title confirmed on the 19^th May 2015.

Subsequently she was summarily dismissed from the Labour Party membership on or about the 8^th September 2015 having been branded a turncoat for selling out her so called ‘working class’ roots much no doubt to the great

disappointment of her parents and many working class supporters whom thought she actually believed in ‘championing’ their pension causes, rather than her ultimate aim of self-advancement, using their causes to promote herself as the ‘older workers Champion’ by manning the barricades and shouting the loudest. 

Altmann was summarily despatched by the Prime Minister on the 15^th July 2016 having ‘reigned’ as pension supremo for just 14 months during which she made no perceptible or visible public impact on the pension landscape if one is prepared to forget the idiotic furrie ‘Workie’ creature she championed in the cause of compulsory automatic pension enrolment in the workplace.

A lesson in how  to waste Taxpayers money and look asinine at the same time…speaking of which…

Meantime historically when a person such as Altmann ‘sells out’ and engages in such turncoat duplicitous acts there can be no half measures as many a poacher has found to their cost when a fellow poacher has turned gamekeeper.

Selling one’s ‘Soul for a Penny Roll’ is an all or nothing irreversible act. The price is the complete and irreparable loss of  public personal integrity and credibility.

Subsequently after her sacking Altmann had much to whinge about publicly and the Bugler produces extracts from her statements below so that an erudite Bugler Reader may judge for themselves Altman’s actual credibility and personal integrity in the final analyses and to that end a thoughtful Reader might like at this point to refresh their memory by re-reading the Bugler’s optimistic and aspirational editorials which were made by the Bugler at the time of Altmann’s original appointment.

A mere butterfly of political and personal opportunism and a  great ‘Lady’ pension minister, confidence Trickster, and Whinger.

Following her swift and brutally apt termination Altmann gave an interview to the Jewish Chronicle, a London Newspaper, in which she chronicled her political baptism and denouement. This was clearly not an atmosphere of chummy academia to which she was well accustomed…

“I felt like I was in detention”…

Altmann has described her time as David Cameron’s Pensions Minister as “the most terrible experience”, and claimed that her health suffered because of the stress of being “silenced” by government officials.

She explained: “It has been the most terrible experience for me. I have felt under pressure the whole time; you have been squished and squashed in every direction and you just want to explode sometimes. It affected my health without question. It’s a very uncomfortable experience.”

For more of her uncomfortable ‘experiences’ and her letter of ‘resignation’ after being sacked… Go Here. Having read

and digested  Altmann’s ‘experiences’ one should surely pause to ask the question that if she was such a self-evident paragon of  high principle, which she would have us all believe, how was it that in publicly demonstrating these principles she did not make her point by resigning her Ministerial appointment long before being sacked?

Suffice it to say that far from it being a Soul  in torment bought for a Penny Roll the Baroness continues in her shameful misery in the House of Lords to sign on for her daily tax free, Taypayers paid, £350 per diem.

Clearly her principles could be quite easily bought over the market stall and perhaps the new Prime Minister seeing Altmann operate up close in government long before she used her axe on her must have thought that Altmann’s ‘charisma’ was all rather false, syrupy, duplicitous, and repugnant…

Who knows what the great She Leader thought?

The uncomfortable reality surely is that Altmann became the merest political butterfly of footnote opportunism of recent political history during which, like many another, the Electorate saw her come to collect her 30 pieces of silver, to look , but not to conquer…

Altmann was replaced at the Department for Work and Pensions by Richard Harrington MP, whose downgraded title and post, Under Secretary of State for Pensions (a junior ministerial post), speaks volumes  for the importance the new May government attaches to pensions futures in the  the workplace.
He says…

“Savers should be able to use their nest eggs to buy a home, according to pensions minister Richard Harrington.

The MP  who was promoted to the role in July as part of Theresa May’s reshuffle, said property was often used to save for the future and pensions should therefore be a way of funding home purchases.

The minister made the comments to New Model Adviser at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham on 3 October, although he added making this possible would be a long-term ambition.

“For most people there are two steps in their life [house purchase and retirement] and I think it is legitimate that the government should help with both,” he told New Model Adviser…

“Property is also saving for your future in a way and I

would say the arbitrary distinction between the two, while necessary at the moment, ideally really long-term, it would seem to me a logical move to move to the stage of bolting on a long-term non-retirement savings product in the same pot. One big savings product.”

The MP added such a policy could be rolled into auto-enrolment (AE), although not before a “huge amount” has been achieved.

The proposal has been met by much derision by pension professionals on Twitter.

Dalriada trustee representative Mike Crowe said: “Let people buy a house with retirement savings, says pensions minister. Don’t tell me he failed #pensions 101?”

Meanwhile, Trade Union Congress pensions policy officer Tim Sharp said: “This does not seem especially wise.”

Aegon pensions director Steven Cameron said: “Retirement [versus] house purchase need [very] different investments.”

Harrington also commented that the lifetime ISA (LISA), which will allow savers to put aside up to £4,000 per year – with a 25% top-up from the government – for retirement or buying a first home, should not be over-complicated…”