John Gummer Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Deben
Honorific-Suffix:PC
Office:Chairman, Climate Change Committee
Term Start:2012
Term End:2023
Predecessor:Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell
Successor:Piers Forster
Office1:Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Leader1:John Major
Term Start1:2 May 1997
Term End1:11 June 1997
Predecessor1:John Prescott (Environment)
Successor1:Norman Fowler
Office2:Secretary of State for the Environment
Primeminister2:John Major
Term Start2:27 May 1993
Term End2:2 May 1997
Predecessor2:Michael Howard
Successor2:John Prescott (Environment, Transport and the Regions)
Office3:Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Primeminister3:Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Term Start3:24 July 1989
Term End3:27 May 1993
Predecessor3:John MacGregor
Successor3:Gillian Shephard
Office4:Paymaster General
Primeminister4:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start4:11 September 1984
Term End4:1 September 1985
Predecessor4:Cecil Parkinson
Successor4:Kenneth Clarke
Office5:Chairman of the Conservative Party
Leader5:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start5:11 June 1983
Term End5:2 September 1985
Predecessor5:Cecil Parkinson
Successor5:Norman Tebbit
Office6:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start6:21 June 2010
Life Peerage
Office7:Member of Parliament
for Suffolk Coastal
Eye (1979–1983)
Term Start7:3 May 1979
Term End7:12 April 2010
Predecessor7:Harwood Harrison
Successor7:Thérèse Coffey
Office8:Member of Parliament
for Lewisham West
Term Start8:18 June 1970
Term End8:8 February 1974
Predecessor8:James Dickens
Successor8:Christopher Price
Birth Date:26 November 1939
Birth Place:Stockport, Cheshire, England
Party:Conservative
Spouse:Penelope Gardner
Children:4, including Ben Gummer
Alma Mater:Selwyn College, Cambridge

John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and now a member of the House of Lords.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3] He is a trustee of climate change charity Cool Earth,[4] alongside the ocean conservation charity, Blue Marine Foundation.[5]

Early life

Gummer was born in Stockport, Cheshire. He is the eldest son of a Church of England priest, Canon Selwyn Gummer,[6] 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.

Public life

Elections

First elected to Parliament at the 1970 general election, where 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, deciding 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.

In government

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.[7]

As Environment Secretary he introduced the Environment Act 1995 and the Landfill Tax, which was the first such environmental tax in the UK. The BBC Wildlife magazine described Gummer as the "Environment Secretary against which all others are judged",[8] placing him as one of its top ten environmental heroes. In 1997, he was also awarded the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Medal,[9] and was described by Friends of the Earth as "the best Environment Secretary we've ever had".[10]

He had responsibility for food safety during the mad cow disease epidemic in 1989–90 which eventually claimed 178 British lives. At the height of the crisis in May 1990, he attempted to refute the growing evidence for BSE/Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease by offering his four-year-old daughter Cordelia a burger in front of press cameras, which she declined but he consumed during a constituency event.[11] [12] [13]

Gummer opposed the reduction of beds at the Aldeburgh Cottage Hospital in July 2005.[14]

In opposition

Gummer managed to hold onto his seat in the 1997 Labour landslide victory, albeit with a much reduced majority of 3,254. He subsequently became a backbencher and chairman of the All-Party Group on Architecture and Planning. During this time he pursued environmental causes, introducing an Early Day Motion on global warming to Parliament along with Michael Meacher and Norman Baker.[15] He was also instrumental in the passing of the Climate Change Act of 2008.

Because of his environmental credentials, in 2005 David Cameron asked Gummer to chair the Quality of Life Policy Group with Zac Goldsmith as his deputy.[16]

In 2009, Gummer was involved in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, after claiming £36,000 for gardening over four years, as a parliamentary expense. Although the claims were encouraged and initially approved by the Parliamentary Fees Office, rules state claims should only be made on expenses essential to parliamentary duties. He repaid £11,538 for gardening and household bills and donated £11,500 to charity, saying that he was paying above the minimum required in order to demonstrate "corporate social responsibility" for the expenses system. Subsequently, the Legg Report showed that 343 MPs had been asked to repay some money with Gummer paying the seventh highest figure.[17] [18]

House of Lords

It was announced that Gummer would be awarded a peerage in the 2010 Dissolution Honours List. On 21 June he was created a Life Peer as Baron Deben, of Winston in the County of Suffolk. He takes his title from the River Deben. He was introduced in the House of Lords the same day, supported by his brother, Lord Chadlington, and the composer Lord Lloyd-Webber.[19]

As a pro-European moderate, Lord Deben supported Kenneth Clarke's leadership bids.[20]

In September 2012, Lord Deben was confirmed as Chairman of the UK's independent Committee on Climate Change, succeeding Lord Turner]]. The committee advises the UK Government on setting and meeting carbon budgets and on preparing for the impacts of climate change. He was due to step down at the end of June 2023.[21]

Personal life

Lord Deben has been married to Penelope Gardner since 1977, and lives at Winston Grange, a Grade II listed property in Suffolk.[22] They have four children, including Ben Gummer, who was MP for Ipswich from 2010, until he lost his seat in 2017.

He converted to the Catholic Church in 1992, having previously been a practising Anglican and a member of the General Synod of the Church of England. He has supported the creation of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham for former Anglicans who have, like him, joined the Catholic Church, including serving as an Honorary Vice-President of the Friends of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.[23] [24] In July 2018 he was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from the University of East Anglia.[25]

Arms

Escutcheon:Gules a cross potent nowy quadrate Argent between four escallops fukes inwards Or.
Crest:A cock wings elevated and addorsed Or beaked and combed jelloped and legged Gules grasping in the dexter claws a lily of the valley Argent slipped and leaved Or.
Motto:Duc In Altum (Put Out Into The Deep)[26]

See also

Bibliography

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Mr John Gummer (Hansard). 13 May 2021. api.parliament.uk.
  2. Web site: Contact information for Lord Deben – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament. members.parliament.uk.
  3. Web site: Castle Trust: Discover more . castletrust.co.uk . 27 February 2020.
  4. Web site: Homepage – Current. Cool Earth.
  5. Web site: Blue Marine Foundation – Creating partnerships for a healthy ocean. Blue Marine Foundation.
  6. News: Chalfont . Alun . Canon Selwyn Gummer . The Guardian. 20 April 1999.
  7. News: John Gummer . The Guardian . 14 February 2014.
  8. Web site: BBC Wildlife Magazine. bbcwildlifemagazine.newsprints.co.uk.
  9. Web site: RSPB Medal Winners . rspb.org.uk . 25 October 2012.
  10. News: John Gummer picked as favourite to head climate change committee . The Guardian . 6 July 2012 . 27 February 2020.
  11. News: 1990-05-16 . 1990: Gummer enlists daughter in BSE fight . en-GB . 2023-09-20.
  12. News: John Gummer: Beef eater . . 11 October 2000.
  13. News: Waving goodbye to Parliament . . 7 May 2010.
  14. "The Threat to Aldeburgh Hospital: an Update from John Gummer". http://www.ixxi.co.uk/lof/gummer.pdf
  15. Web site: UK Parliament – Early Day Motions By Details . Edmi.parliament.uk . 24 May 2005 . 29 April 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060113141314/http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=28373 . 13 January 2006 . dead .
  16. Web site: Quality Of Life Challenge. https://web.archive.org/web/20070428112238/http://www.qualityoflifechallenge.com/. dead. 28 April 2007. www.qualityoflifechallenge.com.
  17. Web site: 4 February 2010. Review of past ACA payments. House of Commons Members Estimate Committee. 5 February 2010.
  18. News: Full list of MPs' expenses repayments ..in order of amount repayable. BBC News. 4 February 2010. 1 April 2010.
  19. Web site: Lords Hansard text for 21 Jun 201021 Jun 2010 (pt 0001). publications.parliament.uk.
  20. News: John Gummer: mole charge MP to quit Parliament . London . The Daily Telegraph . Rosa . Prince . 30 December 2009.
  21. Web site: Secretariat . C. C. C. . 28 July 2022 . Lord Deben to continue in post until mid-2023, Professor Nick Chater steps down . 13 June 2023 . Climate Change Committee .
  22. Web site: Hansard, 17 December 1992 . 26 October 2021.
  23. Web site: About. Friends of the Ordinariate. 16 October 2014.
  24. News: Minister to the Ministers. 16 October 2014. The Tablet. 29 January 2011.
  25. News: Honorary degrees to be given to three former cabinet ministers . ITV News . 16 July 2018.
  26. Book: Debrett's Peerage . 2019 . 2288.
  27. Web site: John Gummer MP, Suffolk Coastal . TheyWorkForYou. 29 April 2010.