Michael John Foster (born March 14, 1963) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Worcester since 1997, and is currently the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Development.

[edit] Early life

Michael Foster was born in Birmingham, West Midlands and was educated at the Great Wyrley High School in Great Wyrley near Cannock, and Wolverhampton Polytechnic where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1984. He later studied at the University of Wolverhampton where he received a Postgraduate Certificate in Education in 1995.

He followed in his father Brian's footsteps when he joined Jaguar Cars in 1984 as a financial analyst, becoming a senior analyst in 1985 and a management accountant in 1987. He left Jaguar in 1991 to become an accountancy and finance lecturer at the Worcester College of Technology, where he remained until his election to Westminster.

[edit] Parliamentary career

He joined the Labour Party in 1980, and was a shop steward for the Transport and General Workers Union for two years from 1986. He became the secretary of the Worcestershire Mid Constituency Labour Party in 1987, and the secretary of the Worcester Constituency Labour Party for three years from 1992. Michael Foster was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for Worcester with a majority of 7,425, and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on June 2, 1997.[1], where he spoke of the constituency and the Royal Worcester porcelain. He is the only Labour MP ever to represent Worcester in parliament.

He joined the education and employment select committee in 1999, and after the 2001 General Election he served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Department for Education and Skills Margaret Hodge. After the 2005 General Election he became the PPS to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain. In the reshuffle of May 2006, he entered the government as an assistant whip. In another reshuffle in October 2008, he was promoted to be a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for International Development.

Michael Foster is best known for his introduction of the private members bill to ban hunting with dogs in 1997; although his bill did not become law, its principles were later passed into law by the Hunting Act 2004.

[edit] Personal life

He has been married to Shauna Ogle since September 28, 1985, and they have a son and two daughters. He is a member of the Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

[edit] External links

• Michael Foster official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Michael Foster MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Michael Foster MP
• BBC Politics page

[edit] News items

• Wanting school kitchens to be improved in March 2005
• Wanting to scrap district councils in Worcestershire in January 2006
• Helping a newsagent get his lottery machine back in March 2004
• Protecting Worcester Sauce in March 2005