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Leo Docherty

Leo Docherty (born 4 October 1976) is a former British Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aldershot from 2017 to 2024. He served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces from March to July 2024.[3]

Leo Docherty
Official portrait, 2020
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
In office
26 March 2024 – 4 July 2024
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byJames Heappey
Succeeded byLuke Pollard
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe[a]
In office
7 September 2022 – 26 March 2024
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Preceded byGraham Stuart
Succeeded byNus Ghani
Minister for Defence People
In office
7 July 2022 – 7 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded bySarah Atherton
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans
In office
21 April 2021 – 7 July 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byJohnny Mercer
Succeeded byJohnny Mercer
Assistant Government Whip
In office
29 July 2019 – 21 April 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Member of Parliament
for Aldershot
In office
8 June 2017 – 30 May 2024
Preceded bySir Gerald Howarth
Succeeded byAlex Baker
Personal details
Born (1976-10-04) 4 October 1976 (age 48)[1]
Glasgow, Scotland
Political partyConservative
SpouseLucy
Children2
Alma materSOAS, University of London
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst[2]
Military career
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Years of service2002-2006
RankCaptain
Service number555125
UnitScots Guards
Battles / warsIraq War
War in Afghanistan

Prior to being elected as an MP, he served in the Scots Guards, before working in publishing and for the Conservative party. He is the author of Desert of Death (2007). Docherty was first elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2019, but was defeated by Alex Baker of the Labour Party in 2024 as part of a large nationwide swing from the Conservatives to Labour, following a defeat in the local elections earlier in the year.[4][5] This marked the first time since the constituency's creation in 1918 that a non-Conservative MP had been elected.

Doherty served as Minister for Defence People from July 2022 to September 2022.[6] in the Boris Johnson ministry and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe from September 2022 to March 2024.[7][8][9] Docherty also served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the culmination of the Sunak ministry.[10]


Early life and career

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Leo Docherty was born on 4 October 1976 in Glasgow and grew up in Gloucestershire. He studied Swahili and Hindi at SOAS, University of London between 1996 and 2000, before attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst the following year.[11] From 2001 to 2007 he served in the Scots Guards.[12] After being posted to London on ceremonial duties and a period spent in Germany, he served operationally in Iraq and Afghanistan as a British Army officer.

After leaving the army, he wrote about his first-hand account of the war in Afghanistan in his book Desert of Death, which was published by Faber in 2007. Living near Didcot, he created and worked as editor and publisher of Steppe magazine - a now defunct publication that covered the arts, culture, history, landscape and people of Central Asia.[13] He was appointed Director of the Conservative Middle East Council in 2010, a role in which he served until being elected as an MP.

Docherty stood successfully as the Conservative candidate in the Hagbourne ward of South Oxfordshire District Council in May 2011, standing down at the end of his four-year term when the wards were revised.[14] He stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Wallingford division of Oxfordshire County Council in May 2017.[15]

Parliamentary career

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Docherty in 2017

Docherty unsuccessfully applied to be the Conservative candidate for the Labour Party held Oxford East constituency in 2014.[16]

At the 2015 general election, Docherty stood in Caerphilly, coming third with 16.6% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Wayne David and the UKIP candidate.[17][18][19]

In April 2017, he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Aldershot. The Financial Times called his selection "the highest-profile tussle over a candidate choice, [in which] the party leadership rejected a request from activists in Aldershot to be allowed to consider Daniel Hannan, the prominent Eurosceptic MEP, for the safe Tory seat".[20][21] At the snap 2017 general election, Docherty was elected to Parliament as MP for Aldershot with 55.1% of the vote and a majority of 11,518.[22]

In the House of Commons he sat on the Defence Committee and Committees on Arms Export Controls (formerly Quadripartite Committee).[23]

He backed Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[24] On 29 July 2019, Johnson appointed Docherty as an Assistant Government Whip.

In September 2019, Leo's brother Paddy Docherty wrote an open letter to The Guardian urging him to resign, writing: "Now I am simply appalled that this government, of which you are sadly a part, has become the principal threat to the lives and liberties of the people. Please do the decent thing, and resign".[25]

At the 2019 general election, Docherty was re-elected as MP for Aldershot with an increased vote share of 58.4% and an increased majority of 16,698.[26]

On 21 April 2021 Docherty succeeded Johnny Mercer as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans.[27] He became Minister for Defence People on 7 July 2022.[28][29]

On 26 March 2024, Docherty replaced James Heappey as Minister of State for the Armed Forces.[30] He was replaced as Minister of State for Europe by Nus Ghani.[31]

In June 2024, Docherty was reselected as the Conservative candidate for Aldershot at the 2024 general election.[32] He was defeated by Alex Baker of the Labour Party amidst a strong nationwide swing away from the Conservatives.

Gulf States

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As Chair of the Conservative Middle East Council and since serving as an MP, Docherty has frequently praised the work of the governments in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and has been subject to some criticism from opposition MPs and journalists, such as Peter Oborne for his links and his failure to always declare his register of interests when speaking on the subject in Parliament. However, Docherty has denied any conflict of interest and, as Director of the Conservative Middle East Council, responded to criticism of donations received there as not having influenced decision-making within the group.[33][34][35] Docherty's trips were worth £26,893 in total and were the highest valued of any MP's trips during the year following the 2017 general election.[36]

Personal life

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He is married to Lucy Docherty and they have two children.[37]

Campaign medals

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  Iraq Medal
  Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
  • With clasp "AFGHANISTAN"

Notes

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  1. ^ As Minister of State for Europe from 7 September 2022 to 27 October 2022.

Publications

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  • Desert of Death. A Soldier's Journey from Iraq to Afghanistan, Faber and Faber, London 2007, ISBN

978-0-571-23688-6

References

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  1. ^ "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Leo Docherty MP". gov.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: 26 March 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Aldershot - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Hampshire Local Elections 2024: First win for Labour in Rushmoor". BBC News. 3 May 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Minister for Defence People - GOV.UK".
  7. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Europe) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: 26 March 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  11. ^ "About Leo". Faber. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Leo Docherty MP". Aldershot Conservatives. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  13. ^ "Register of interests". South Oxfordshire Council. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  14. ^ "South Oxfordshire Council Election Results 1973-2011" (PDF). Plymouth University. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  15. ^ "Election results for Wallingford". Oxfordshire County Council. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  16. ^ "Former Bicester mayor chosen as Conservative candidate for Oxford East". Oxford Mail. 6 December 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  17. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Caerphilly result". General Election 2015 - Results for Caerphilly constituency. Caerphilly County Borough Council. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  19. ^ "Caerphilly Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015. BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  20. ^ "Tory central command keeps a tight leash on selections". Financial Times. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  21. ^ "Exclusive: The third candidate shortlisted in Aldershot is Chris Brannigan". Conservative Home. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  22. ^ "UK Parliamentary election - Aldershot Constituency". Rushmoor Borough Council. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  23. ^ "Leo Docherty". Parliament UK. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  24. ^ Docherty, Leo [@LeoDochertyUK] (3 July 2019). "It's time to #BackBoris - to deliver Brexit on 31st Oct, unite and inspire our great country and defeat Corbyn @BackBoris" (Tweet). Retrieved 20 July 2019 – via Twitter.
  25. ^ Docherty, Paddy (3 September 2019). "An open letter to my brother the Tory MP: resign from this rogue government". The Guardian.
  26. ^ "Aldershot parliamentary constituency - Election 2019" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  27. ^ Mendick, Robert; Fisher, Lucy (20 April 2021). "Johnny Mercer sacked by text message after row over Northern Ireland veterans". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  28. ^ "Minister for Defence People - GOV.UK".
  29. ^ Eve, Carl (7 July 2022). "Plymouth MP dismissed as minister is now back in the cabinet". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  30. ^ McDaid, Lucy (26 March 2024). "Outgoing Wells MP James Heappey quits as Armed Forces Minister". ITV News. Political Correspondent, ITV News West Country.
  31. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: 26 March 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  32. ^ "STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED, NOTICE OF POLL AND SITUATION OF POLLING STATIONS" (PDF). 7 June 2024.
  33. ^ "Britain invokes spy clause to cover up payments to Bahrain". The Times. 22 September 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  34. ^ "Why is the Conservative Party ignoring Palestine?". Middle East Eye. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  35. ^ "The Gulf business tycoons backing the Conservative Middle East Council". Middle East Monitor. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  36. ^ "MPs sign up for £2m of free overseas trips". BBC News. 18 October 2018.
  37. ^ "About Leo". Personal website. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Aldershot
2017–2024 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans
2021–2022 		Succeeded by
Post disestablished
Preceded by
New Post
 Minister for Defence People
2022 		Succeeded by
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