John Gummer

John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben,

Gummer stood down from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election and was appointed to the House of Lords as Lord Deben.^[3]

Lord Deben was Chairman of the UK's independent

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",^[11] 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,^[12] and was described by Friends of the Earth as "the best Environment Secretary we've ever had".^[13]

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.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Gummer opposed the reduction of beds at the Aldeburgh Cottage Hospital in July 2005.^[18]

Gummer managed to hold onto his seat in the

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.^[20]

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.^{[citation needed]} Subsequently, the Legg Report showed that 343 MPs had been asked to repay some money with Gummer paying the seventh highest figure.^[21][22]

It was announced that Gummer would be awarded a

Lord Deben has been married to Penelope Gardner since 1977, and lives at Winston Grange, a Grade II listed property in Suffolk.^[27][28] 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

Coat of arms of John Gummer

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. Escutcheon Gules a cross potent nowy quadrate Argent between four escallops fukes inwards Or. Motto Duc In Altum (Put Out Into The Deep)[32]

• River Deben

• 1966: When the Coloured People Come, by John Gummer, Oldbourne,
  ISBN 0-356-01199-2
• 1969: To Church with Enthusiasm, by John Gummer
• 1971: The Permissive Society: Fact or Fantasy?, by John Selwyn Gummer, Cassell,
  ISBN 0-304-93821-1
• 1974: The Christian Calendar, by Leonard W. Cowie and John Selwyn Gummer,
  ISBN 0-297-76804-2
• 1987: Faith in Politics: Which Way Should Christians Vote?, by John Gummer,
  ISBN 0-281-04299-3
• 1990: Christianity and Conservatism, by John Gummer
• 1997: Green Buildings Pay, edited by B. W. Edwards, foreword by John Gummer, Spon Press,
  ISBN 0-419-22730-X
• 1998: From Earth Summit to Local Agenda 21: Working Towards Sustainable Development, edited by William Laffery, Katarina Eckerberg, William M. Laffery, foreword by John Gummer,
  ISBN 1-85383-547-1
• 1998: Precision Agriculture: Practical Applications of New Technologies, by John Gummer and Peter Botschek, The International Fertiliser Society,
  ISBN 0-85310-062-4
• Weekly columnist in Estates Gazette magazine^[33]