John Gummer

The problem with gummer is not merely that for years he ignored the scientific advice of the chair of the government's committee set up to look into bse, nor that he stridently and aggressively took the anti-scientific stance that eating meat was safe, but that he believed there was nothing ethically wrong with turning herbivores into carnivores nor with cannibalizing livestock Animals by feeding them on their own remains so that Cattle ate Cattle, Sheep ate Sheep, and Chickens ate Chickens. On the contrary, turning herbivores into carnivores was natural; cannabalizing Animals was natural. To this stupid, odious, arrogant, little crackpot it was vegetarians who were "wholly unnatural".

Gummer's understanding of environmental issues is no less perverse, "Mr Gummer told the briefing in Bonn that the disposal of Brent Spar .. would not harm the environment. He said there had been 121 North sea rigs for disposal, but only one so far was being disposed of in the Atlantic. The rest were for land disposal. The other 280 or so rigs would be dealt with on a case by case basis. The Shell rig would not be the only one to be sunk at sea." Perhaps gummer's views would be a bit less unpalatable if it wasn't for the fact that, "The Minister of agriculture, John Gummer, is to be reprimanded by MPs over his failure to disclose more than £2,000 of work done at his Suffolk home by Britain's biggest meat company, Hillsdown Holdings."