Joseph Docherty

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.

Career 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.