She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bristol North West constituency, losing her seat at the 2017 general election.
[6] Leslie was privately educated at Badminton School and Millfield, before studying Classics at Balliol College, Oxford.
[4] Whilst at university, and immediately afterwards, Leslie worked as a lifeguard on the beaches of North Cornwall, and then as a swimming coach and gym instructor at Thornbury Leisure Centre and part-time in a local pub.
She later worked as an advisor to David Willetts, the then Shadow Secretary of state for Children, Schools and Families, focusing mainly on special needs education, and for the Young Foundation and the National Autistic Society.
[4] Before her election in 2010, she edited Crossbow, the journal of the Bow Group,[4] and wrote for a variety of publications, including a regular blog for The Guardian.
[12][13] In connection with a dispute involving the Conservative Middle East Council, Mohamed Amersi sued Leslie for defamation.
She polled 19,115 votes, 3,274 ahead of the Liberal Democrat candidate,[15] and achieved a swing of 8.86% from the incumbent Labour MP Doug Naysmith.
[16] She made her maiden speech on 2 June 2010, focusing on the educational divisions existing in her constituency and praising organisations like Teach First which seek to break down such barriers.
[19] In May 2013, Nicholson resigned, after a reign of 6 years, following sustained political and press criticism of his role in the Mid-Staffs scandal.
[31][32] Previously she had been a member of the Fresh Start group of Conservative MPs, which campaigned for far-reaching reform of the European Union.
She has campaigned extensively for the re-opening of the Henbury Loop rail line around the north of her former constituency,[36] and for the introduction of a smartcard on local transport.
(The High Court review of the decision to grant planning permission was dismissed[42] but in the event neither the supermarket nor the stadium were built.)