Michael Jabez Foster (born 26 February 1946) is a British lawyer and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politician who served as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Hastings and Rye from 1997 to 2010, and served in government as a

Minister for Equalities The minister for women and equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom which leads the Government Equalities Office. This is an independent department within the wider Cabinet Office that has responsibility for addressing all form ...

from 2009 to 2010.

Early life

Michael Foster was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and attended the local Hastings Secondary School for Boys and the

Hastings Grammar School Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

before attending the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

where he received a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

(LLM) degree. Between 1963 and 1972 he worked as a

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

clerk; he was admitted as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in 1980 and later worked as a partner of Fynmores Solicitors in

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

specialising in employment law until 1998. He was elected as a councillor to the

Hastings Borough Council Hastings Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Hastings, in the county of East Sussex, England. The borough is divided into 12 wards but has no civil parishes, the entire district being an unparished area. The council is based ...

in 1970, becoming the Labour group leader for a year in 1973, serving on the council until 1977, he was again elected to the Borough Council 1981–1985. He received a dual mandate in 1974 when he was also elected as a councillor to the

East Sussex County Council East Sussex County Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex. East Sussex is divided into five local government districts. Three are larger, rural, districts (from west to east: Lewes; Wealden; and Rother). T ...

, becoming the deputy Labour group leader 1984–1992, he stood down from the county council in 1997.

Parliamentary career

He unsuccessfully contested Hastings at both the

February February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 in leap years, with the 29th day being called the ''leap day''. It is the first of five months not to have 31 days (th ...

and October 1974 general elections and again at the 1979 General Election, and on each occasion was defeated by the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP Kenneth Warren. He won Hastings and Rye at the 1997 General Election when he became the second least expected Labour MP in the landslide. He defeated the new sitting Conservative MP

Jacqui Lait Jacqueline Anne Harkness Lait (born 16 December 1947) is a British Conservative Party politician and former Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituencies of Hastings and Rye (1992–1997) and Beckenham (1997–2010). Early life Lait was bo ...

by 2,560 votes and remained the MP until 2010. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

on 21 November 1997. In

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

he was a member of the

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

in 1998 until he became the

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Gareth Williams in 1999 and his successor

Peter Goldsmith Peter Henry Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith (born 5 January 1950) is a British barrister and a former Attorney General for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland. On 22 June 2007, Goldsmith announced his resignation which took effect on 27 J ...

until the 2005 General Election. From 2005 he served as a member of the work and pensions and standards and privileges select committees. In 2009, Foster was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Equality in the

Government Equalities Office The Government Equalities Office (GEO) is the unit of the British government with responsibility for social equality. The office has lead responsibility for gender equality within the UK government, together with a responsibility to provide advic ...

, responsible for the progress of the Government's Equalities Bill through the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. Michael Foster resigned as a PPS in 2003 over the Iraq War, which he regarded as being illegal without a mandate from the United Nations. He subsequently returned to Government. Foster lost his seat at the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

as part of the national swing to the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Personal life

Foster married Rosemary Kemp on 13 September 1969 in Hastings and they have two sons. He is a member of the

Christian Socialists Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...

and the Society of Labour Lawyers. Other interests include pensioners rights, child poverty and animal welfare. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of East Sussex, a position he has held since 1993, and was

High Sheriff of East Sussex The High Sheriff of East Sussex is a current title which has existed since 1974; the holder is changed annually every March. For around 1,000 years the county of Sussex was covered by a single High Sheriff of Sussex but after the Local Government ...

for 2016–17. He currently runs his own law practice, specialising in employment law."Michael Foster Law" Practice website
Retrieved 28 December 2013.

External links

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/michael_jabez_foster/hastings_and_rye TheyWorkForYou.com - Michael Jabez Foster MP*

News items

Calling on a killer to be deported in March 2003

Video clips

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Michael 1946 births Living people People from Hastings People educated at Hastings Grammar School Alumni of the University of Leicester Members of East Sussex County Council Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Deputy Lieutenants of East Sussex High Sheriffs of Sussex