Human rights groups sound alarm over Tory foreign minister’s links to repressive Gulf states

Leo Docherty has accepted over £30,000 in hospitality from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE since 2017

Leo Docherty was appointed to the Foreign Office job this month by Liz Truss

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Human rights groups have raised concerns that a Tory MP who took over £30,000 in hospitality from repressive Gulf states could be made minister for the Middle East.

Leo Docherty was appointed as a minister of state at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office earlier this month as part of Liz Truss’s new front bench.

The department has yet to say which portfolio he will be given, but campaigners say they are “extremely concerned” he might be put in charge of relations with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).