Paul Ayers Robert Foster-Bell (born March 1977) is a former New Zealand diplomat, a politician and was a list member of the House of Representatives between May 2013 and 2017 for the National Party.
While he failed to win the party's nomination for the Whangarei electorate in March 2014, he remained in Parliament as a list MP for the following term.
He is of English, Scots, Irish, Portuguese and Māori descent, with whakapapa ties to the tribes of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa and Te Aupōuri.
[13] In April 2016, Foster-Bell convinced all MPs to unanimously pass his member's bill to create an exemption under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that allowed Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association (RSA) veterans' clubs to serve traditional tots of liquor at gunfire breakfasts on Anzac Day.
[15] Foster-Bell courted controversy in 2016 when news broke that he had 12 staff leave his office in the 2013–2016 period, amidst claims by former staffers that he had bullied them.
Prime Minister John Key defended Foster-Bell's expenses, saying "It's not unusual for us to use a list MP, certainly someone with skills like he has in foreign affairs, around the country.
[22] In 2016 Foster-Bell announced that he was gay in response to remarks made by Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki regarding homosexuals.