New Business Minister Douglas Alexander Has Plenty Experience In Government

8th July 2024

Douglas Alexander the new Labour MP for Lothian East served in several roles in the past Labour government including transport secretary and international development secretary. He was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business and Trade on 6 July 2024.

He took the Lothian East seat from the SNP, winning 49% of the vote to their 21.4%.

Mr Alexander was the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South from 1997 until he was defeated in 2015 by the SNP's Mhairi Black.

Since losing his seat Mr Alexander has pursued a career in academia - working as a visiting professor at New York University and King's College London.

Last May he accompanied the singer Bono and his bandmate The Edge on a visit to war-torn Ukraine.

Alexander joins former home secretary Jacqui Smith, who was appointed to the House of Lords and given the role of Higher Education Minister, as the Blair and Brown era politicians to join Starmer's Cabinet.

On 10 May 2023 the Institute for Government ran a detailed article about Doulas Alexander

Department for Business and Trade

Douglas Alexander at Wikipedia

See all the new cabinet ministers at the BBC