Don Foster, Baron Foster of Bath
| The Right Honourable The Lord Foster of Bath PC | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons | |
|
In office 7 October 2013 – 11 May 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Chief Whip |
Baron Young of Cookham Michael Gove |
| Preceded by | Alistair Carmichael |
| Succeeded by | Anne Milton[1] |
| Comptroller of the Household | |
|
In office 7 October 2013 – 11 May 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Alistair Carmichael |
| Succeeded by | Gavin Barwell[2] |
| Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government | |
|
In office 4 September 2012 – 7 October 2013 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Andrew Stunell |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Williams |
| Member of Parliament for Bath | |
|
In office 9 April 1992 – 30 March 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Chris Patten |
| Succeeded by | Ben Howlett |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
31 March 1947 Preston, Lancashire, UK |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Alma mater |
University of Keele University of Bath |
Donald Michael Ellison Foster, Baron Foster of Bath, PC (born 31 March 1947) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who represented Bath, Somerset as its constituency MP from 1992 until 2015.
From October 2013 to May 2015 he held the ex officio title of Comptroller of the Household as Liberal Democrat Chief Whip.[3] He was created Baron Foster of Bath, of Bath in the County of Somerset in the 2015 Dissolution Honours,[4] becoming a member of the House of Lords.
Early life
Foster was born in Preston, Lancashire, and attended the Lancaster Royal Grammar School before Keele University where he was awarded a BSc degree in Physics and Psychology in 1969, and also received the CertEd that same year. He later received an MEd in Education at the University of Bath in 1981.
He was a science teacher at Sevenoaks School in Kent in 1969, before appointment as Avon Education Authority's Science Project Director in 1975 and as a Lecturer in Education at Bristol University in 1980, before being engaged as a management consultant with Pannell Kerr Forster from 1989 until his election to the House of Commons.
Parliamentary career
A local party activist, he was a founder member of the Avon Liberal Democrats and was elected as a Councillor on Avon County Council in 1981 for Cabot Ward, and was the SDP-Liberal Alliance Group Leader from 1981–86. He also served as the county's education committee chairman, and remained a Councillor until 1989. He unsuccessfully contested Bristol East at the 1987 general election where he finished in third place, 11,659 votes behind the Conservative Jonathan Sayeed. He was elected at the 1992 general election when he defeated then-Conservative Party Chairman, Chris Patten, in the constituency of Bath; Foster won the seat with a majority of 3,768. Foster spoke of the World Heritage Site status of Bath and sent his best wishes to Patten in Hong Kong in his maiden speech on 12 May 1992.[5]
In Parliament, Foster was the Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Education under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown in 1992, in which capacity he served until 1999.
In December 2010, in response to a call from the Football Supporters' Federation, he introduced a Bill in Parliament for English and Welsh football safe standing areas, the first of its kind since the Taylor Report.[6]
Having been sworn of the Privy Council in 2010,[7] in September 2012 Foster was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government before being promoted in October 2013 as Government Deputy Chief Whip representing the Liberal Democrats in the Coalition.
In January 2014 Foster announced he would stand down as an MP at the following general election,[8] and now sits as a Liberal Democrat on the Opposition benches in the House of Lords. His Bath constituency was lost to the Conservatives at the 2015 general election.
Personal life
His interests include Third World issues, being a member of Amnesty International and the Child Poverty Action Group as well as supporting a number of local charities, including Ted's Big Day Out and Julian House.[9] Lord Foster's main national charity is WaterAid and he has seen first hand their work in Ethiopia.[9] He is a Vice-President of the Debating Group,[10] and also enjoys sport, music, ballet, travelling and reading; Lord Foster also plays the ukulele.[11]
Foster was nominated for a life peerage in August 2015,[12] despite having previously favoured abolition of the House of Lords. When accused of hypocrisy, Foster stated: "I want to get rid of it [the House of Lords] and the only way in the current system of getting rid of it, is having people there who will do just that. It's not hypocrisy at all"![13]
Styles of address
- 1947–1992: Mr Don Foster
- 1992–2010: Mr Don Foster MP
- 2010–2015: The Rt Hon. Don Foster MP
- 2015: The Rt Hon. Don Foster
- 2015–: The Rt Hon. The Lord Foster of Bath PC
Publications
- Resource Based Learning in Science by Don Foster, 1979, Association for Science Education ISBN 0-902786-52-0
- Science with Gas by Don Foster, 1981
- Aspects of Science by Don Foster, 1984, Longman ISBN 0-201-14377-1
- Reading about Science by Don Foster, 1984
- Nuffield Science by Don Foster, 1986
- Teaching Science 11–13 Edited by Don Foster, Cecil Powell and Roger Lock, 1987, Routledge ISBN 0-7099-4931-6
- Education: Investing in Education by Don Foster, 1994, Liberal Democrat Publications ISBN 1-85187-243-4
- Making the Right Start: Nursery Education and Care by Don Foster, 1994, Liberal Democrat Publications ISBN 1-85187-264-7
- From the Three Rs to the Three Cs: A Personal View of Education by Don Foster, 2003 ISBN 0-9546078-0-5
See also
Notes
- ↑ "Deputy Chief Whip, Treasurer of HM Household - Anne Milton". Gov.uk. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ↑ "Gavin Barwell given ancient Government role after holding on to Croydon Central seat". Your Local Guardan. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ↑ Ministerial appointments 7 October 2013 Gov.uk
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 61377. p. 19146. 13 October 2015.
- ↑ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 12 May 1992". parliament.uk.
- ↑ "Safe Standing Bill launched in Parliament". fsf.org.uk.
- ↑ "Privy Counsellors". Privy Council Office. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ↑ "Liberal Democrat MP for Bath Don Foster to stand down". BBC News. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- 1 2 "Don Foster MP" (PDF). Political Developments Ltd. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ↑ "The Debating Group". debatinggroup.org.uk.
- ↑ "Our big gig". Liberal Democrat Voice. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ↑ "Dissolution Peerages 2015". Gov.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ↑ "Don Foster to accept "ludicrous" Lords peerage". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
External links
- Don Foster MP official site
- Profile at the Liberal Democrats
- Bath Liberal Democrats
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
- Profile: Don Foster BBC News
- Video clips
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Chris Patten |
Member of Parliament for Bath 1992–2015 |
Succeeded by Ben Howlett |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Alistair Carmichael |
Government Deputy Chief Whip in the Commons 2013–2015 |
Succeeded by Anne Milton |
| Comptroller of the Household 2013–2015 |
Succeeded by Gavin Barwell | |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Alistair Carmichael |
Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the Commons 2013–2015 |
Succeeded by Tom Brake |