Guy Opperman has agreed to return to his pensions minister post until a new leader of the Conservative party is elected.

Opperman announced his reappointment as parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Work and Pensions on Twitter on July 8, a day after resigning from his post when he said the government could no longer function and asked prime minister Boris Johnson to step down from office.

“[I] have agreed to help DWP navigate the next few weeks, while we decide the appointment of a new prime minister,” he said.

He detailed the current topics the department is having to deal with, such as “superfunds, defined benefit issues, an outstanding [environmental, social and governance] consultation, ongoing correction exercises, and three to four pending private members bills”, which mean that “when the chief whip asked me to help until the new PM was chosen, I agreed”.

Opperman’s resignation sparked fears in the industry that important reforms, such as regulations for the new DB funding code, auto-enrolment expansion, the single code of practice, and the Pensions Regulator’s notifiable events regime, could be brought to a halt.

In his resignation letter on July 7 to Johnson, Opperman wrote: “I have given you ample opportunity to show real change. Sadly, recent events have shown clearly that government simply cannot function with you in charge.

“In good faith, and with regret, for the good of the country, I must ask you to stand down. No one individual, however successful in the past, is bigger than the party or this great country.”

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