He made his little girl eat a BSE-free burger on TV... now she’s a shareholder
FIVE members of Lord Deben’s family, including himself, are directors or shareholders of Sancroft International Ltd.
By far the best known is Cordelia, who at the age of four was infamously dragged into a photocall by her father to eat a beefburger at the height of the BSE crisis in 1990.
At the time, fears were growing that the cattle disease BSE could infect humans. As Agriculture Minister, John Selwyn Gummer’s gesture was supposed to convince the nation that British beef was safe.
But, of course, it wasn’t. Six years later, a link between BSE and a human form of the disease was officially confirmed in the Commons.
Thankfully, Cordelia, who only managed one reluctant bite, suffered no ill effects.
After attending St Mary’s Catholic boarding school for girls in Ascot, she studied economics at Edinburgh University and in Barcelona. She later took a job in the City working for a stockbroking firm. More recently, she worked as a GCSE tutor.
Cordelia has never spoken of the PR stunt, but Gummer himself has said: ‘I was prepared for my family to eat it because I believed it to be safe.’
Now 32, Cordelia recently married and goes by the name Cordelia Jonathan. She is listed as both director and shareholder of Sancroft International, along with her sister Leonora, 36, their brother Felix, 38, and Lord Deben himself, who is also company chairman.
Penny, Lady Deben, is also a shareholder.
Son Ben, 40, a former Tory MP for Ipswich, gave up his shareholding and directorship when he became a Minister in 2015. He lost his seat in 2017.