Michael Foster

Michael Foster
Born	1958
A donor of heavy money to the Labour Party.  Co-CEO In office May 2010 - May 2013 Employer The Rights House  Founder In office February 2008 - May 2010 Employer MF Management  Partner In office March 2006 - February 2008 Employer All3Media  Director In office July 2003 - March 2006 Employer UMTV  Partner In office May 2001 - June 2003 Employer Artists' Rights Group  Managing Director of Content In office September 1999 - February 2001 Employer Carlton Communications  CEO  In office December 1997 - September 1998 Employer Ginger TV  Co-Chairman In office June 1995 - December 1997 Employer ICM Talent Agency

Michael Foster is a top showbiz agent and donor of more than £400,000 to the Labour Party since 2010.

He stood as Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Cornish constituency of Camborne and Redruth in the 2015 General Election and, having secured 11,448 votes (25%), came second to the Conservatives.

Working alongside David Cameron, PR chief at Carlton Communications (CC), Michael Foster was CC's Managing Director of Content from September 1999 to February 2001.

Heckling Corbyn

In October 2015, Michael Foster was reported to have heckled Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at a Labour Friends of Israel event. Foster told The Times:

“I find it difficult to understand how the leader of the British Labour party, when he has spent the party conference talking about decency, respect for human values and human rights, kindness and a new way of conducting politics, can appear on a platform in front of 250 or 300 Jewish people . . . and cannot find in his lexicon of words at that meeting, the word Jew, Jewish, the UK Jewish community or the word Israel. That is not leadership.”

He appeared on the BBC Daily Politics programme on 2 October 2015 to explain his behaviour.

Zio is slang for Jew

In April 2016, Michael Foster joined the commercially-controlled media smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn in a Daily Mail article headlined "Ignorant, Godless, Hateful - Corbyn's contempt for Jews is a disgrace":

The word Zio for those not used to the language of the young is not a shortened reference to a Zionist but slang for Jew.

There are many Anglo Jews like me; yes of course we worry. History tells us we are not wrong to do so. I am the first male in four generations going back to 1860 who has not yet been driven from their country of birth by political anti-Semitism.

Those of us who are committed socialists, committed supporters of Labour, will fight both for the Labour cause of justice and fairness in our society. We won’t be defeated by ignorance, hate and a godless totalitarian black-and-white view of the world that so many on the Labour Left possess.

As for anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, it will recede when the party has strong leadership and not before. That’s the litmus test for Jeremy Corbyn.

Legal challenge

In July 2016, Michael Foster took legal action against Labour's general secretary Iain McNicol, challenging the NEC's decision of 12 July 2016 that the incumbent leader is automatically included in the contest. NEC members had wrestled with legal advice for six hours over whether Mr Corbyn would need to secure the support of 20% of Labour MPs and MEPs (51 nominations) but voted 18-14 that he should automatically be on the leadership ballot.

As Michael Foster sought to reverse this decision by the NEC, Jeremy Corbyn requested to be added to the proceedings as second defendant in the High Court case. The Claimant, Foster, had sought to argue that Mr Corbyn’s interests were adequately represented by the Labour Party. Judge Dr Victoria McCloud accepted, however, in a reserved Judgment, that:

“This case will lead to a decision of significance both for Mr Corbyn and for the country at a time of what I have referred to as ‘turbulence’ following the EU Referendum vote.”

Master McCloud observed that:

“It struck me during the hearing that whilst there is no suggestion that such was a deliberate effort to hinder Mr Corbyn’s interests in the manner in which the direction for the final hearing was obtained, it cannot help relations or trust between the parties that the Defendant agreed to the Claimant’s application for an expedited hearing without making the point firmly that a hearing listed after the cut off date for nominations could prejudice the leader of the Party’s interest and potentially affect the ability of members of the Party to be able to vote for him if they so wish. That fact also in my Judgment illustrates the risk that there is that, howsoever inadvertent, Mr McNicol may well overlook points which it would be in Mr Corbyn’s interests to make.”

The hearing of the substantive challenge took place on 26 July 2016. Martin Westgate QC and David Lemer acted for Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP. Mark Henderson acted for Iain McNicol, the General Secretary of the Labour Party, sued on behalf of all members of the Labour Party (other than the Claimant and Mr Corbyn).

In his three-page judgement on 28 July 2016, Mr Justice Foskett concluded that the decision of the NEC was correct and that Mr Corbyn was entitled to be a candidate in the forthcoming election without the need for nominations. The Judge awarded both defendants their costs which means that Michael Foster must pay Corbyn's legal costs and the Labour Party's costs.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Jewish Money And The Labour Party	article	11 April 2016	Gilad Atzmon	The Labour party is evidently dependent on the shekel pipeline. The numbers reveal why Labour has been hijacked by Jewish interests. Whether or not we like it, our leading opposition party is a hostage begging for the mercy of few wealthy Jews.

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