Don's Biography

Don Foster is the Member of Parliament for Bath. He lives in Bath and is also closely engaged in local activity in the communities across the area.

Donald Michael Ellison Foster was born in Preston, Lancashire, and educated at the Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Keele University where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and psychology in 1969 and also received the Certificate in Education the same year. He studied later for his master's degree in education at the University of Bath in 1981. He became a science teacher at the Sevenoaks School in Kent in 1969, before becoming a science project director with the Avon Education Authority in 1975. He became a lecturer in education at the University of Bristol in 1980, becoming a management consultant with Pannell Kerr Forster from 1989 until his election to the House of Commons.

As a local party activist he was a founder member of the Avon Liberal Democrats and was elected as a councillor to the Avon County Council in 1981 for Cabot ward, and was the SDP-Liberal Alliance group leader from 1981-6, he also served as the county's education committee chairman, and he remained a councillor until 1989. He unsuccessfully contested Bristol East at the 1987 General Election where he finished in third place, some 11,659 votes behind the sitting Conservative MP Jonathan Sayeed. He was elected at the 1992 General Election when he famously beat then-Chairman of the Conservative Party Chris Patten at Bath. He won the seat with a majority of 3,768 and remains the MP. He spoke of the World Heritage Site status of Bath and sent his best wishes to Patten in Hong Kong in his maiden speech on May 12, 1992.

In parliament Don became a spokesman on education under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown in 1992 in which capacity he remained until 1999

Don supports a number of local charities, including Ted's Big Day Out, Julian House. His main national charity is Water Aid and he has seen first hand their work in Ethiopia.

Don has been married to Victoria Jane Dorcas Pettegree since 1968 and they have a son and a daughter and three grandchildren. His other interests include Third World issues; he is a member of Amnesty International and the Child Poverty Action Group. He also enjoys sport, music, ballet, travelling and reading.