He won Hastings and Rye at the 1997 General Election when he became the second least expected Labour MP in the landslide.
From 2005 he served as a member of the work and pensions and standards and privileges select committees.
In 2003, Foster has called for then-Home Secretary David Blunkett to deport a convicted murderer who was freed after serving 12 months of his 36-year sentence.
[2] Foster later resigned as a PPS in 2003 over the Iraq War, which he regarded as being illegal without a mandate from the United Nations.
[citation needed] Other interests include pensioners rights, child poverty and animal welfare.