John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, PC (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal, now a member of the House of Lords. He is Chairman of the environmental consultancy company Sancroft International and Chairman of Veolia Water UK.[1] He is also a non-executive director and regular columnist for the Catholic Herald and a non-executive director of Castle Trust (see - http://www.castletrust.co.uk/about-us/who-we-are).
On 30 December 2009, Gummer announced his intention to stand down at the 2010 general election in order to participate in a new pan-European campaign in support of action in response to climate change.[2] He became a member of the House of Lords in June 2010.
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John Gummer was one of the three sons of a Church of England priest whose living was in Gravesend, Kent, another being Lord Chadlington. He began his education at Holy Trinity Primary School in Brompton, London and later went to King's School, Rochester. He read History at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He was the chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and later President of the Cambridge Union Society.
Whilst at Cambridge, he was a member of what became known as the Cambridge Mafia – a group of future Conservative Cabinet ministers, including Leon Brittan, Michael Howard, Kenneth Clarke, Norman Lamont, and Norman Fowler.
In 1962, Gummer joined Business Publications as an editor, leaving in 1964 to become editor in chief with Max Parrish & Oldbourne Press. He left to take up the position of special assistant to the chairman of BPCPublishing the publishing arm of the British Printing Corporation in 1967, transferring to become a publisher within the special projects department until 1969, when he was promoted to become the editorial coordinator, where he remained until he was first elected to Parliament. He has held various board level positions in publishing companies since his election.
At the 1964 general election, Gummer stood as a candidate in the Greenwich constituency, but was heavily defeated by the incumbent Labour MP, Richard Marsh. He stood again some 18 months later at the 1966 general election and lost even more heavily.
He was finally elected to the House of Commons on his third attempt, at the 1970 general election, when he narrowly unseated the sitting MP James Dickens in the Lewisham West constituency. However, at the February 1974 general election he lost the seat to Labour's Christopher Price, and failed to regain it in the October 1974 election.
In 1979, he eventually returned to the House of Commons, securing the seat of Eye, following the retirement of veteran Tory Harwood Harrison. He held the constituency until its abolition for the 1983 general election. From then until 2010 he was the MP for one of its successor constituencies, Suffolk Coastal.
Under Edward Heath, Gummer held various minor positions in the government, ultimately being appointed Conservative Party Vice-Chairman (a position he held until the fall of the government). In 1979, he was re-elected as an MP as the Conservative Party returned to Government. He held various government positions and also chaired the Conservative Party from 1983 to 1985; he was chairman at the time of the Brighton hotel bombing during the Conservative party conference. However, unlike his predecessor, Cecil Parkinson, and many of his successors, he did not hold cabinet rank at this time. He eventually joined the cabinet in 1989 as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, moving to become Secretary of State for the Environment under John Major in 1993. As Environment Secretary he introduced the UK's first Environmental Tax, the landfill tax. BBC Wildlife magazine described him as the "Environment Secretary against which all others are judged", putting him in the top ten environmental heroes [BBC Wildlife Magazine 2007]. In 1997, he was awarded a Medal of Honour by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Following the 1997 Labour election victory he was a backbencher and chairman of the all-party group on architecture and planning.
It was announced that Gummer would be awarded a peerage in the 2010 Dissolution Honours List. He was created a life peer as Baron Deben, of Winston in the County of Suffolk on 21 June 2010, and he was introduced in the House of Lords the same day, supported by his brother, Lord Chadlington, and the composer Lord Lloyd-Webber.[3]
Although there has never been a Lord Gummer,[4] both he and his brother chose to take geographical titles instead of their surname.
He has been married to Penelope Jane Gardner since 1977 and they live near Debenham in the Mid Suffolk District. They have two sons and two daughters: Ben, the MP for Ipswich constituency; Felix; Leonora; and Cordelia.
For many years, including his period as Conservative Party Chairman, he was known as John Selwyn Gummer. He dropped the Selwyn from common usage as he entered the cabinet in the late 1980s.
He is one of the members of Thatcher's cabinet who were said to have wept when she met with them individually on the evening before her resignation in November 1990 to seek their views on whether she should continue to fight for the party leadership.
He was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England from 1978 until he left the church and was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1992, following the decision of the General Synod allowing the ordination of women to the priesthood.
He introduced an Early Day Motion on Climate Change[5] to Parliament along with Michael Meacher and Norman Baker. In 2001, he called on the European Union to come together against nuclear terrorism.[6]
He is a pro-European moderate, and was a supporter of Kenneth Clarke's leadership bids.
He is also a strong opponent of abortion. The former Conservative MP Gyles Brandreth records in his published diaries an incident when Gummer was campaigning in Brandreth's Chester constituency during the 1997 general election campaign:
"John's happiest moment comes when we encounter a lone Labour activist... The man mutters something derogatory as JG strides past. John spins round. 'What does your candidate have to say on abortion then?' The man is momentarily stunned, and then declares with some conviction, 'She believes in a woman's right to choose.' 'Oh yes, oh yes,' trills John, voice rising, breath quickening: 'She believes in murdering babies does she? Just so we know.' The Secretary of State for the Environment is smacking his lips now. 'You want us to vote for someone who believes in murdering babies. Thank you! Thank you very much!'"[7]
Despite this outburst, the Labour candidate, Christine Russell, won the seat.
Soon after the election of the new leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, in 2005, Gummer was asked to chair a new Quality of Life Policy Group[8] with Zac Goldsmith as his deputy. He was chosen for his experience as Secretary of State for the Environment and known interest in environmental issues.
He is noted for delaying a ban on beef in 1989,[9] and for the way he attempted to feed a hamburger to his four-year-old daughter Cordelia at the height of the BSE panic in 1990, though his daughter did not eat it as it was too "hot" and she was full.[10]
In 1993, he was called a "drittsekk" (translated as "shitbag")[11][12] by the Norwegian Minister of Environmental Affairs, Thorbjørn Berntsen, who commented "John Gummer is the biggest shitbag I have ever met."[12] after Gummer had refused to discuss an acid rain problem on Norwegian soil.[12][13]
Gummer is a recipient of the RSPB Medal.[14]
In 2009, Gummer attracted attention, with many other MPs, because of his parliamentary expense claims, approved by the Parliamentary Fees Office, in which he claimed for, among other things, mole-catching, jackdaw nest removal and gardening on his country estate at Debenham in Suffolk.[15]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James Dickens |
Member of Parliament for Lewisham West 1970–1974 |
Succeeded by Christopher Price |
| Preceded by Harwood Harrison |
Member of Parliament for Eye 1979–1983 |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal 1983–2010 |
Succeeded by Therese Coffey |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Cecil Parkinson |
Chairman of the Conservative Party 1983–1985 |
Succeeded by Norman Tebbit |
| Paymaster-General 1984–1985 |
Succeeded by Kenneth Clarke |
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| Preceded by John MacGregor |
Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1989–1993 |
Succeeded by Gillian Shephard |
| Preceded by Michael Howard |
Secretary of State for the Environment 1993–1997 |
Succeeded by John Prescott as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions |
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