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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.
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. 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. in the Boris Johnson ministry and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe from September 2022 to March 2024. Docherty also served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the culmination of the Sunak ministry.
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. From 2001 to 2007 he served in the Scots Guards. 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. 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. He stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Wallingford division of Oxfordshire County Council in May 2017.
Docherty unsuccessfully applied to be the Conservative candidate for the Labour Party held Oxford East constituency in 2014.
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.
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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.
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. 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. in the Boris Johnson ministry and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe from September 2022 to March 2024. Docherty also served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the culmination of the Sunak ministry.
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. From 2001 to 2007 he served in the Scots Guards. 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. 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. He stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Wallingford division of Oxfordshire County Council in May 2017.
Docherty unsuccessfully applied to be the Conservative candidate for the Labour Party held Oxford East constituency in 2014.
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.
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