Leyland is an
art therapist by profession, and is the chair of the
British Association of Art Therapists, the British professional body for art therapists. Leyland was elected to
Camden London Borough Council in
2010 to represent
Belsize, and won the seat back from the
Liberal Democrats. She became the leader of the Conservatives in 2013 (when they were the third largest party) and became the leader of the opposition in 2014, when the Liberal Democrats lost all but one seat. As leader of the opposition, she made national news by advocating more CCTV in Belsize Park, and criticising Camden Council for spending money on publicising the fact it had no money. At the
2015 general election, Leyland stood as the Conservative candidate for
West Tyrone in Northern Ireland. She came eighth and
lost her deposit, being just three votes ahead of the last-placed candidate. It was the party's sixth-lowest vote share at that election. Leyland voted to remain in the
2016 EU referendum. She was selected for
Hampstead and Kilburn at the
2017 general election, beating
Henry Newman and
Kemi Badenoch, and her candidacy in the strongly anti-
Brexit constituency was dubbed 'Clash of the Remainers'. Leyland finished as a distant second, with a large swing towards the
Labour incumbent,
Tulip Siddiq. Leyland stood down from Camden Council in
2018. ==Electoral results==