Joe Docherty, Baron Docherty of Milngavie

The Right Honourable
The Lord Docherty of Milngavie
Official portrait, 2026
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage
12 January 2026
Personal details
BornJoseph Paul Docherty
(1969-09-07) 7 September 1969 (age 57)
Helensburgh, Scotland
PartyLabour (1994–present)
EducationUniversity of Strathclyde
Harvard Business School

Joseph Paul Docherty, Baron Docherty of Milngavie (born 7 September 1969) is a British business and education executive. He was made a life peer in January 2026 for the Labour Party, but has sat as a non-affiliated member of the House of Lords since having been suspended the following month.

Education

Docherty was educated at St Ninian's High School, Kirkintilloch, the University of Strathclyde (BEng, 1992; MPhil, 1994) and Harvard Business School, where he completed the Advanced Management Program as a Ralph James Scholar in 2011.[citation needed]

Career

Docherty was the 5th London-wide list candidate for the Labour Party in the 2000 London Assembly election.

Docherty was Chief Executive of Tees Valley Regeneration from 2002 to 2009.

He was managing director of Bede Homes, Chair of the Northern Powergrid Foundation, Trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and Chair of Council of Durham University from 2018 to 2025. In 2025, he was appointed as a non-executive director of Hellens Residential.

He was nominated for a life peerage in the 2025 Political Peerages and on 12 January 2026 created Baron Docherty of Milngavie, of Alexandria in the County of Dunbartonshire. In February 2026, it was revealed that he had resigned in 2018 as chief executive of NCG, formerly Newcastle College Group, following allegations of sexual liaisons at work, including exchanging sexual messages during an Ofsted inspection and using hotels paid for by NCG to meet partners during work hours. Following the revelations, he was suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation.

Notes

  1. ↑ Suspended since 28 February 2026.

References

  1. ↑ "Party list candidates". BBC News. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  2. ↑ Karen McLauchlan (20 October 2008). "'It's a different place to how it was in 2002'". Teesside Live. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  3. ↑ Whitfield, Graeme (19 November 2019). "Former NCG chief executive returns as head of construction firm". BusinessLive. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  4. ↑ "Reflections from Joe Docherty, our outgoing Chair of Council". Durham University. 14 July 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  5. ↑ "Hellens Residential appoints non-executive director". Bdaily (Press release). 3 May 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  6. ↑ "Political Peerages December 2025". Prime Minister's Office (Press release). gov.uk. 10 December 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  7. ↑ "No. 64965". The London Gazette. 16 January 2026. p. 634.
  8. ↑ McKeon, Christopher (28 February 2026). "New Labour peer suspended over alleged inappropriate behaviour". The Independent. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  9. ↑ Hill, Jessica (28 February 2026). "Joe Docherty: Labour peer quit college role over 'inappropriate conduct'". FE Week. Retrieved 1 March 2026.