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John Gummer
John Gummer was born in 1939 and was educated at Holy Trinity Primary School and Cambridge University. After starting a career in publishing, Gummer stood as the candidate at the 1964 General Election for the constituency of Greenwich, which he stood for again in 1966. He entered Parliament at the 1970 General Election for the constituency of Lewisham West but lost the seat at the 1974 election.
John Gummer returned to Parliament in 1979 for the constituency of Eye in 1979, renamed to Suffolk Coastal following boundary changes in 1983. After the 1983 General Election Gummer became the Conservative Party Chairman and then in 1989 he became the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In 1993 he became the Secretary of State for Environment. He has remained on the backbenches since Labour's 1997 General Election victory.