Shadow pensions minister Chris Grayling said the shake-up showed the government had a “cavalier attitude to the pensions sector”.
Liberal Democrats pensions minister Jenny Willott said the moves raised questions about the government’s commitment to pension reform.
“Lord Turner’s commission warned that continuity was vitally important to a successful programme of pension reform, yet the government appears to have paid no heed. Changing the pensions minister and poaching the chair of PADA at this crucial stage is very destabilising and short-sighted,” she added.
Consultants were also unimpressed, including Tom McPhail, head of pensions research, who commented that the timing was “pretty awful”.
Pensions activist Ros Altmann revealed O’Brien had told her weeks ago that he was going to be “got rid of” at the next reshuffle, because he’d been “too good to the Financial Assistance Scheme”.
“We have the world’s most complex pensions system and now there’s no one with any experience at the helm of it,” she said. “We were told that the raft of reforms we are expecting will be the most radical since [Sir William] Beveridge; so why change captains halfway through?”
Altmann also said she’d been offered the post of chairman at PADA before Myners, but that she “wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole”.
A DWP spokesman said: “We have worked closely with the industry over the last few years to get to this position, and Rosie Winterton will continue this dialogue, listening to people’s concerns as previous ministers have done.”
Labour MP Frank Field admitted: “People here are unbelievably puzzled.”
Charlie Kirby
