In December 2022, Alexander sought out a return to Parliament by applying to be Labour's parliamentary candidate for East Lothian, held by the Alba Party's Kenny MacAskill. He won the selection to stand for the Labour and Co-operative parties in the constituency in February 2023 and was re-elected to Parliament in July 2024.
Early life and career
Alexander was born in Glasgow, the son of Joyce Oliver Alexander (née Garven), a doctor, and Douglas Niven Alexander, a Church of Scotland minister.[1] Much of his childhood was spent in Bishopton in Renfrewshire. Alexander attended his local comprehensive school Park Mains High School in Erskine, also in Renfrewshire, from where he joined the Labour Party as a schoolboy in 1982.
In 1990, Alexander worked as a speech writer and parliamentary researcher for ShadowTrade and Industry Secretary Gordon Brown. He returned to Edinburgh to study for an LLB at the University of Edinburgh, where he won the Novice Moot Trophy and graduated with distinction in 1993. He then qualified as a Scottish solicitor. On qualifying as a solicitor, he worked for a firm of solicitors in Edinburgh that provided legal services to Trade Union members and specialised in industrial injury cases.
Political career
Perth and Kinross
Whilst still studying in 1995 and with friends in the local Constituency Labour Party and the backing of his mentor shadow chancellor Gordon Brown, he was selected to be The Labour Party in Scotland candidate at the Perth and Kinross by-election caused by the death of the Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn. The by-election in the highly volatile Tory seat of Perth and Kinross came in the middle of the John Major government and was won by Roseanna Cunningham of the Scottish National Party, but Alexander received enough votes to push the Conservative candidate into third place. It was a seat where Labour had never previously done particularly well, and the result, which saw Labour overtake the Conservatives and move up to second place, broke several post war election records.[2] This brought him to the attention of party leader Tony Blair, and shortly after his defeat by the SNP he was welcomed at The Labour Party in Scotland Conference in the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness where he spoke immediately before Blair in the critical debate on abolition of Clause 4.4 of the Labour Party Constitution.
When the Perth and Kinross constituency was abolished, Alexander was chosen to be the Labour candidate in the newly drawn Perth constituency at the 1997 general election. Once again, Labour achieved a further swing with Alexander securing 24.8% share of the vote compared to 22.9% achieved during the 1995 by-election, though pushed into third place.
Member of Parliament
On 28 July 1997, Gordon McMaster, the Labour Member of Parliament for Paisley South, committed suicide. Alexander, who grew up in Renfrewshire, was chosen to contest the by-election and he was duly elected to serve as the Member of Parliament for Paisley South on 6 November 1997. In June 2001 he was returned to Westminster with an increased majority. Following the general election in May 2005 Douglas was re-elected, becoming MP for the new constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire South, as well as promoted to Minister of State for Europe attending Cabinet at the Foreign Office. At the 2010 General Election Alexander was re-elected for Paisley and Renfrewshire South with a majority of 13,232 votes.[3] He lost his seat to 20-year-old Mhairi Black of the Scottish National Party at the general election on 8 May 2015 with a swing against him of 26.9%.
Alexander took a central role in the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999 which saw Donald Dewar elected as the first First Minister of Scotland. Alexander is credited with devising the strategy for the campaign, including the successful 'Divorce is an Expensive Business' messaging unveiled at the Labour Party in Scotland Conference in Glasgow (March 1999).[11] Labour secured 56 seats under the Proportional Representation system, nine short of an overall majority, and agreed to enter a coalition with the 17-strong Liberal Democrats to form the first Government in the newly established Scottish Parliament.[12] Alexander also coordinated Labour's successful 2001 General Election Campaign which resulted in another Labour landslide and the Party winning 413 of the 659 seats available: securing a 167-seat majority in the House of Commons.[13] Alexander was appointed by Tony Blair to Labour's National Executive Committee in 2003 and was appointed by Gordon Brown to be Labour's General Election Coordinator for the 2010 general election campaign. This campaign saw the first televised Leaders' debates,[14] and Alexander was part of the core team preparing Gordon Brown for each debate, as well as devising the strategy and messaging for the campaign across the UK which would ultimately deny David Cameron's Conservatives a Majority in May 2010.[15] Later in that year Alexander accepted the role as co-chair of David Miliband's campaign for the leadership of the Labour party.[16][17] He subsequently was Ed Miliband's chair of general election strategy for the Labour 2015 general election campaign.[16][18]
Opposition to antisemitism
In September 2012 Alexander gave an interview to the Evening Standard newspaper criticising Ken Livingstone's election campaign and calling out anti-Semitic comments made by the former London Mayor. He said Livingstone paid the "deserved price" when he lost the London mayoral election.[19] Alexander said: "Ken's campaign too often looked like the past rather than the future and when I saw his remarks about the Jewish community in London in particular, I didn't just think it was ill-advised, I thought it was wrong".[20] Livingstone hit back on Twitter, saying the Shadow Foreign Secretary "represents a failed New Labour project that lost millions of votes". He also invited him to discuss the issue on his radio show.[21]
Alexander has been a vocal critic of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party and is a supporting member of one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the Party: the Jewish Labour Movement. In 2011, Alexander was among the first to publicly condemn Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West for his comments regarding the religion of Britain's first Jewish ambassador to Israel.[22] Alexander, who at the time was serving as Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, said in response to Flynn's comments about Ambassador Matthew Gould that: "The faith of any British diplomat is irrelevant to their capability to their job. To make suggestions otherwise is wrong and offensive".[23]
Public speeches
On 29 June 2010, five years after the Make Poverty History March in Edinburgh, Alexander gave a speech to the Labour Campaign for International Development about the progress made towards achieving the Gleneagles Summit Goals and on the future of International Development.[24]
On 12 October 2011, Alexander delivered the Andrew John Williamson Memorial Lecture, at Stirling University. In his lecture entitled: "A Better Nation?" A Personal Reflection on Scotland's Future. Alexander explored the difference between the political ideologies of nationalism and socialism and outlined a strategy for Scottish Labour to reclaim the mantel of devolution and successfully defeat the campaign for Scottish separation.[25]
On 3 May 2013, Alexander delivered the 4th Judith Hart Memorial Lecture for which he received a lot of media attention for addressing the issue of Scottish Independence ahead of the referendum to be held the following year.[27] Alexander paid tribute to Judith Hart's "strong sense of solidarity" advocating for Scotland to vote to remain part of the United Kingdom, saying: "Walking away from others has never been our way – walking with others has been our heritage and to my mind should be our future".[28]
Expenses controversy
During the 2009 MP expenses scandal, Alexander was one of three Labour ministers who "quietly repaid more £50,000 in expenses". It emerged he had repaid more than £12,000 that he had previously claimed in expenses on his taxpayer-funded second home while also receiving income from a tenant at the same home. This represented double-funding for his second home and was against the expenses rules.[29][30]
Career outside Parliament
After leaving public office, Alexander became a Fisher Family Fellow at Harvard University where he served as a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (2016–2022). He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago (2015) and is currently a visiting professor at New York University (Abu Dhabi). He is also currently a visiting professor at King's College London's Policy Institute. In November 2015 Alexander started working as a senior advisor to Bono, helping secure investment to tackle global poverty.[31][32] In March 2016 Alexander joined the Pinsent Masons law firm as a "strategic advisor".[33][34] He remains a Member of the UK Privy Council, a Council Member on the European Council of Foreign Relations, and a Trustee of the Royal United Services Institute.
Alexander has written and presented programmes for BBC Radio 4 including: the documentary: "A Culture of Encounter" (2017), in which Alexander brought together experts and community organisations to explore the cultural, economic, and political polarising forces in society.[38] He also authored and presented the three part "Belonging" series (2018) comprising these episodes: 'Old Ties',[39] 'New Bonds',[40] and 'Tomorrow's Stories'.[41] This series, in which Alexander explored the erosion of class, religion and security in society to explain why the ties that previously gave so many a shared sense of belonging have weakened, was nominated by BBC Radio 4 for the International URTI Radio Grand Prix (31st edition) Prize for Public Service Media and Social Networks.[42]
At the end of 2019 Alexander authored and presented a programme called: A Guide to Disagreeing Better.[43] This programme was broadcast in January 2020 and explores why public discourse has become so ill-tempered and lacking in respect. Alexander interviews a range of contributors with personal tales about how to disagree better. The programme received widespread news coverage.[44][45]
Ahead of COP26[46] in 2021, Alexander authored and presented a further BBC Radio 4 programme called 'Glasgow: Our Last Best Hope',[47] an essential guide to COP26, its hope of success and what the transition to net zero could mean for Glaswegians and all of us, with contributions from John Kerry,[48] Christian Figueres,[49] Mark Carney and Alok Sharma.[50]
In May 2022, Alexander authored and presented Connections which examined whether recent crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russo-Ukrainian War, have helped bring people together or driven them apart.[51]
Bullying claims while chair of UNICEF UK
Douglas Alexander served as chair of the board of trustees for UNICEF UK from June 2018 to September 2020. Alexander stepped down as chair in September 2020 following accusations of bullying by then-executive director Sasha Deshmukh, although he had the support of the board.[52][53][54] A review by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius which reported in January 2021 described the bullying allegations made by Deshmukh as "unsubstantiated", and in respect of complaints made by three other employees, said that although Alexander's manner "did cause some discomfort and upset to the three employees", that "when viewed objectively, it did not amount to bullying".[55][56]
University of Edinburgh
In August 2021, Alexander was appointed a General Court Assessor at the University of Edinburgh Court,[57] his alma mater. Alexander is a member of the University of Edinburgh Court, the university's highest governing body, and the General Council Business Committee and the Policy and Resources Committee.
Return to Parliament
In December 2022, Alexander sought out a return to Parliament by applying to be Labour's parliamentary candidate for East Lothian which at the time was the party's #1 target seat in Scotland, held by the Alba Party's Kenny MacAskill.[58] He won the selection to stand for Labour in the constituency in February 2023.[59] He won the seat and was re-elected to Parliament for the first time as a Labour Co-op MP in July 2024.[60] He was subsequently appointed Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security on 6 July.[61][62][63]
He has contributed to, authored and edited several books: "New Scotland New Britain" (1999),[69] "Europe in a Global Age" (2005),[70] "Serving a Cause, Serving a Community" (2006),[71] "Renewing our offer not retracing our steps", The Purple Book (2011),[72] "Influencing Tomorrow: Future Challenges for British Foreign Policy (2013),[73] and "Britain in a complex world", Why Vote Labour 2015: The Essential Guide (2014)[74] and "Rethink: How We Can Make A Better World" (2021), a collection of essays focused on a global 'reset moment' with leading international figures giving glimpses of a better future after the pandemic including contributions from Pope Francis, Niall Ferguson, Samantha Power and Paul Krugman.[75]
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