Alex Baker is the Labour Party MP for Aldershot, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Baker won 19,764 votes, representing 40.7% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Leo Docherty, received 14,081 votes (29.0%), while the Reform UK candidate, Trevor Lloyd-Jones, secured 8,210 votes (16.9%). Baker was duly elected with a majority of 5,683.

The Aldershot constituency is located in Hampshire, South East England. Aldershot is known as the “Home of the British Army”. Historically, it was one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, held by the party continuously from 1918 until 2024.

Baker’s immediate predecessor was Docherty of the Conservative Party, whom she unseated in 2024.

Political Career

Baker is a member of the House of Commons defence select committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for monitoring the expenditure, administration and policy of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and its associated public bodies. The committee’s remit includes oversight of the British Armed Forces.

In May 2026, Baker was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest.” The letter was an intervention in the political crisis engulfing Keir Starmer’s premiership, after Labour suffered heavy losses in the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. It was organised as a counterweight to a mounting rebellion that had seen high-profile figures, including some ministers, call for Starmer’s resignation.

The statement read: “Last week we had a devastatingly tough set of election results. It shows we have a hard job ahead to win back trust from the electorate.

“That job needs to start today – with all of us working together to deliver the change the country needs.

“We must focus on that. This is no time for a leadership contest.”

In March 2025, Baker led a group of more than 100 Labour MPs and peers in calling for weapons manufacturers to be reclassified as “ethical” investments. In an open letter addressed to banks, pension funds and investors, the group argued that existing environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies were creating a “barrier” to defence spending, which they asserted was necessary to support the UK and Ukraine.

The letter stated: “There can be no more ethical investment than giving the Ukrainian people every ounce of support that can be mustered by their allies.”

According to a Guardian report, Baker said: “The businesses I speak to in Aldershot and Farnborough are ready to step up and help deliver the new defence capabilities this moment demands – but badly composed ESG rules are stifling the innovation we need to fire up our industrial base.”

The letter was signed by several high-profile figures, including former Nato secretary general and Labour cabinet minister Lord (George) Robertson.

In the wake of the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Baker was appointed by 10 Downing Street as a “mission champion” for the South East, a role intended to cut across departmental boundaries and support Labour’s programme for “national renewal”. These “missions”, first set out in 2023 and subsequently given less prominence, included boosting economic growth, reducing NHS waiting times, tackling crime, establishing a publicly owned clean energy company and expanding educational opportunity.

Baker is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for the armed forces community, the built environment, defence and security sectors supporting local communities, get refusal and Nepal.

Baker delivered her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 9 October 2024 in a debate on the Renters’ Rights Bill.

In it, she said: “Aldershot and Farnborough have been defined by the men and women who have served and sacrificed in every major conflict that our country has faced. We will always remember them.

“Today we are also home to the largest Nepalese community in the UK. The Gurkhas have served our country with outstanding bravery over generations, and I look forward to serving them and advocating for them in this place.”

She added: “My politics has been shaped by people and place: my volunteering; community groups; residents’ associations; my church; and my career working with business and communities, from the co-operative movement to the regeneration of Battersea power station, where I helped build not just the bricks and mortar of a new town centre but a vibrant and diverse community, best represented by Battersea power station community choir, which I founded.

“These experiences taught me that every voice matters and that listening to one another is the first step to getting stuff done.”

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Baker was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

Labour Friends of Nato: Baker is a patron of Labour Friends of Nato (LFN), a parliamentary network and pressure group established in January 2026 to reinforce the Labour Party’s commitment to the Atlantic alliance. According to a LabourList report, the group seeks to deepen understanding of Nato’s strategic role among MPs and party activists. It also seeks to provide a platform to rebut political arguments from both the left and right that seek to diminish Britain’s involvement in the treaty.

The formation of the network was framed by its founders as a return to the post-war traditions of the Clement Attlee government, which helped establish the alliance.

The group set up with plans to organise fact-finding missions to Nato’s military and political headquarters in Brussels, and host an annual lecture in honour of Ernest Bevin, the former foreign secretary and Nato treaty signatory.

Labour Growth Group: Baker has been listed as a member of the Labour Growth Group (LGG) – a vocal faction of backbenchers committed to ensuring economic growth remains the central mission of the government. The group, largely composed of MPs from the 2024 intake, positions itself as the voice of “the builders, not the blockers” and provides organised support for ministers taking on politically difficult decisions in the name of economic expansion.

In an open letter addressed to Keir Starmer, issued upon the group’s founding in July 2024, LGG MPs said it was imperative that “the government grasps the nettle and goes for growth”.

They added: “This absolutely has to start with the sweeping planning reforms to get Britain building again. Under the Tories, planning permissions for new homes hit record lows and housebuilding cratered. Indeed, not once in their 14 years in power did the Conservatives meet their housing targets.

“Energy and transport projects were promised but not built. That’s why we are writing to you to make clear that it’s in the national interest to start delivering on our manifesto promise, including 1.5 million more homes across this parliament at the earliest opportunity.

“A failure to act will not be forgiven by the public. Britain has a housing crisis and a huge infrastructure deficit – without strong and immediate action, this will only worsen.”

SERA: Baker has been listed as a member of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) – a socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. Founded in 1973, SERA is the party’s official environmental campaign group. The organisation campaigns on a wide range of issues, including renewable energy, biodiversity, air quality and the transition to a green economy. SERA describes its member MPs as “champions for the environment”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Baker voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

Baker voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Before Politics

Born Alexandra Baker in the early 1980s, she graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2006.

Baker worked in various roles for the Co-operative Party and Co-operative Group.

Before her election to parliament, she worked on the regeneration of Battersea Power Station in London.

Personal Life

Baker lives in Farnborough with her husband and two children.

Trivia

Baker is the first non-Conservative MP elected for Aldershot in the constituency’s history, spanning over a century. She is also the first woman to represent the constituency.