Douglas Alexander seeks return to frontline politics

Former Labour heavyweight Douglas Alexander is attempting to make a comeback at the next general election, reports suggest.

The former cabinet minister has applied to be Labour’s candidate for East Lothian, one of the party’s key target seats in Scotland, according to The Guardian.

He lost his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat in 2015 to the SNP’s Mhairi Black, who was the youngest person to ever be elected.

Serving under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Alexander held the roles of transport secretary, Scottish secretary and international development secretary over a period of four years.

The East Lothian seat he is said to be targeting is currently held by Alba’s Kenny MacAskill, who was initially elected as an SNP MP.

That seat was won from Labour by the SNP in 2015, before briefly switching back to Labour in 2017, then back to the SNP in 2019.

MacAskill won with a majority of 3,886 three years ago.

Since leaving frontline politics, Alexander has been a fellow at Harvard University, as well as stints at the University of Chicago, King’s College London and New York University (Abu Dhabi).