Douglas Alexander was elected as the MP for Lothian East on Thursday 4 July 2024 with a majority of 13,265. He was appointed Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security in the Department for Business and Trade on 6 July.

Douglas had previously served as a Member of Parliament between 1997 and 2015. He served in various roles as both a Minister of State and Secretary of State in the UK Government from 2001 to 2010. Under Prime Minister Tony Blair, he was appointed Minister for E-Commerce & Competitiveness, Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister of State for Trade Investment and Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State for Europe with responsibility for Russia policy, before being appointed Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Transport. After Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Douglas became Secretary of State for International Development and the UK Governor of the World Bank. He is a member of the Privy Council.

After the 2010 general election, Douglas served as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and then Shadow Foreign Secretary. He was also a key Labour figure in the pro-UK Better Together campaign during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

After leaving public office in 2015, Douglas became a Fisher Family Fellow at Harvard University where he served as a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center. He also served as a visiting professor at New York University (Abu Dhabi) and King’s College London’s Policy Institute.

In February 2023 he was selected by local party members to be Labour’s candidate for the new Lothian East constituency.

You can contact Douglas at:

Email: douglas.alexander.mp@parliament.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/douglas4eastlothian
Twitter: www.twitter.com/D_G_Alexander