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John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, PC FRASE (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and Lewisham West, now a member of the House of Lords. He was Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1983 to 1985 and held various government posts including Secretary of State for the Environment from 1993 to 1997.
Gummer stood down from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election and was appointed to the House of Lords as Lord Deben.
Lord Deben was Chairman of the UK's independent Climate Change Committee. He also chairs the sustainability consultancy Sancroft International, recycler Valpak, and PIMFA (Personal Investment & Financial Advice Association). He is a director of The Catholic Herald and the Castle Trust – a mortgage and investment firm. He is a trustee of climate change charity Cool Earth, alongside the ocean conservation charity, Blue Marine Foundation.
Gummer was born in Stockport, Cheshire. He is the eldest son of a Church of England priest, Canon Selwyn Gummer, and his younger brother is Peter Gummer, Baron Chadlington, a PR professional.
After being educated at King's School, Rochester, Gummer studied History at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Whilst there, as chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and later President of the Cambridge Union Society, 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.
First elected to Parliament at the 1970 general election, in which he defeated sitting MP James Dickens in Lewisham West, Gummer had previously contested Greenwich in 1964 and 1966. He was unseated in February 1974 by Labour's Christopher Price – who achieved a 3.4% swing compared with a 1.3% swing to Labour nationally – and decided not to stand for the seat in the second election that year.
In 1979, he returned to the House of Commons, securing Eye in Suffolk, following the retirement of veteran Tory MP Harwood Harrison. He held the constituency and its successor Suffolk Coastal until his retirement from the Commons in 2010.
Gummer was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture in Edward Heath's government, before being appointed Conservative Party Vice-Chairman – a position he held until the government's fall in 1974. Following his return to the House in the 1979 election, he held various government posts and was Conservative Party Chairman from 1983 to 1985 – an office he held at the time of the Brighton hotel bombing during the 1984 Conservative Party conference. He 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.
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John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, PC FRASE (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and Lewisham West, now a member of the House of Lords. He was Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1983 to 1985 and held various government posts including Secretary of State for the Environment from 1993 to 1997.
Gummer stood down from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election and was appointed to the House of Lords as Lord Deben.
Lord Deben was Chairman of the UK's independent Climate Change Committee. He also chairs the sustainability consultancy Sancroft International, recycler Valpak, and PIMFA (Personal Investment & Financial Advice Association). He is a director of The Catholic Herald and the Castle Trust – a mortgage and investment firm. He is a trustee of climate change charity Cool Earth, alongside the ocean conservation charity, Blue Marine Foundation.
Gummer was born in Stockport, Cheshire. He is the eldest son of a Church of England priest, Canon Selwyn Gummer, and his younger brother is Peter Gummer, Baron Chadlington, a PR professional.
After being educated at King's School, Rochester, Gummer studied History at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Whilst there, as chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and later President of the Cambridge Union Society, 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.
First elected to Parliament at the 1970 general election, in which he defeated sitting MP James Dickens in Lewisham West, Gummer had previously contested Greenwich in 1964 and 1966. He was unseated in February 1974 by Labour's Christopher Price – who achieved a 3.4% swing compared with a 1.3% swing to Labour nationally – and decided not to stand for the seat in the second election that year.
In 1979, he returned to the House of Commons, securing Eye in Suffolk, following the retirement of veteran Tory MP Harwood Harrison. He held the constituency and its successor Suffolk Coastal until his retirement from the Commons in 2010.
Gummer was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture in Edward Heath's government, before being appointed Conservative Party Vice-Chairman – a position he held until the government's fall in 1974. Following his return to the House in the 1979 election, he held various government posts and was Conservative Party Chairman from 1983 to 1985 – an office he held at the time of the Brighton hotel bombing during the 1984 Conservative Party conference. He 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.