John Gummer, Baron Deben

The Right Honourable The Lord Deben PC


Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
In office 2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997
Leader	John Major
Preceded by	John Prescott (Environment)
Succeeded by	Norman Fowler
Secretary of State for the Environment
In office 27 May 1993 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Michael Howard
Succeeded by	John Prescott (Environment, Transport and the Regions)
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office 24 July 1989 – 27 May 1993
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	John MacGregor
Succeeded by	Gillian Shephard
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office 11 June 1983 – 2 September 1985
Leader	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Cecil Parkinson
Succeeded by	Norman Tebbit
Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal Eye (1979–1983)
In office 4 May 1979 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by	Harwood Harrison
Succeeded by	Therese Coffey
Member of Parliament for Lewisham West
In office 18 June 1970 – 28 February 1974
Preceded by	James Dickens
Succeeded by	Christopher Price
Personal details
Born	(1939-11-26) 26 November 1939 (age 77) , Cheshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Penelope Gardner
Alma mater	Selwyn College, Cambridge
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Lord Deben is Chairman of the UK's independent Committee on Climate Change. He also chairs the sustainability consultancy Sancroft International, recycler Valpak,GLOBE International – the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment, the Association of Professional Financial Advisers and Veolia Water UK. He is a non-executive director of Veolia Voda, The Catholic Herald and the Castle Trust – a mortgage and investment firm. He is also a Trustee of the ocean conservation charity, Blue Marine Foundation.

John Gummer stood down from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election and was appointed to the Upper House as Lord Deben.

The eldest son of a Church of England priest, Canon Selwyn Gummer, his younger brother is Peter Gummer, Baron Chadlington, a PR professional.

Gummer attended King's School, Rochester, before going up to Selwyn College, Cambridge where he read History. 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.