John Gummer
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John Selwyn Gummer MP (born, November 26 1939) is British politician, and Conservative Party (UK) Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal. He is also a regular columnist for the Catholic Herald.
Background
John Gummer is the son of a Church of England priest. He was educated at the Holy Trinity, Primary School in Brompton. He has two degrees from the University of Cambridge. He was the chairman of the University of Cambridgee University Conservative Association and later President of the Cambridge Union Society. He joined Business Publications, a publishing company in 1962 as an editor, until he was appointed as editor in chief with Max Parrish & Oldbourne Press in 1964. He left to take up the position of the special assistant to the chairman of the BBC Publishing 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.
Early Political Career
He sought election in the Greenwich (UK Parliament constituency) in the 1964 general election but was heavily defeated by the incumbent MP Richard Marsh. He stood again some 18 months later and lost even more heavily. Eventually he was elected to the House of Commons in 1970, winning the constituency of Lewisham West, unseating the sitting MP James Dickens with a narrow majority. He subsequently lost the seat in the February 1974 general election and failed to regain it in October 1974. He eventually returned to the House of Commmons in 1979 securing the seat of Eye, following the retirement of Veteran Tory Harwood Harrison. He held the constiutency until its abolition in 1983. Since then he has been the MP for Suffolk Costal.
Ministerial Office
Under Sir 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 and the Conservative Party returned to Government. He held various government position ultimately joining the cabinet in 1984 as Paymaster-General. He held his last cabinet post under John Major as Secretary of State for the Environment. Since 1997 he has been a backbencher. He is the chairman of the all party group on architecture and planning.
Controversy
He is noted for delaying a ban on beef in 1989.[link] and for the way he attempted to feed a beefburger to his four-year-old daughter Cordelia, at the height of the BSE panic in 1990, (though photographs of the event were staged and the burger was in fact bitten into by a civil servant) . In 1997 he was awarded a Medal of Honour by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.Personal History
He has been married to Penelope Jane Gardner since 1977 and they have two sons and two daughters, and they live near Debenham in the Gipping district of his constituency. 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 Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey allowing the ordination of women. Whilst at Cambridge University, he was a member of what became known as the Cambridge Mafia - a group of future Cabinet ministers Conservative MPs, including Leon Brittan, Michael Howard, Kenneth Clarke, Norman Lamont, and Norman FowlerHe introduced an Early Day Motion on Climate Change [link] to Parliament along with Michael Meacher and Norman Baker. In 2001 he called on the European Union to come together against nuclear terrorism.[link]
He is a pro-European moderate, and was a supporter of Kenneth Clarke's leadership bids.
Soon after the election of the new leader of the Conservative Party of David Cameron in 2005, Gummer was asked by the new leader to chair a new Quality of Life Policy Group [link] 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.
Publications
- When the Coloured People Come by John Gummer, 1966, Oldbourne ISBN 0356011992
- To Church with Enthusiasm by John Gummer, 1969
- The Permissive Society: Fact or Fantasy? by John Selwyn Gummer, 1971, Cassell ISBN 0304938211
- The Christian Calendar by Leonard W. Cowie and John Selwyn Gummer, 1974, Weidenfield & N ISBN 0297768042
- Faith in Politics: Which Way Should Christians Vote? by John Gummer, 1987, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge ISBN 0281042993
- Christianity and Conservatism by John Gummer, 1990
- Green Buildings Pay Edited by B. W. Edwards, foreword by John Gummer, 1997, Spon Press ISBN 041922730X
- From Earth Summit to Local Agenda 21: Working Towards Sustainable Development Edited by William Laffery, Katarina Eckerberg, William M. Laffery, foreword by John Gummer, 1998, Earthscan Publications Ltd ISBN 1853835471
- Precision Agriculture: Practical Applications of New Technologies by John Gummer and Peter Botschek, 1998, The International Fertiliser Society ISBN 0853100624
- Goat Farming by Alan Mowlem, foreword by John S Gummer, 2002, Farming Press ISBN 0852362358
- Weekly columnist in Estates Gazette magazine [link]
External links
- [Rt Hon John Gummer MP] official site
- [Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: John Gummer MP]
- [TheyWorkForYou.com - John Gummer MP]
- [BBC article on the burger / BSE story]
- [The Big Ask] More About the Climate Change EDM
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