Douglas Alexander to stand as Labour candidate for East Lothianon February 13, 2023 at 1:28 pm

A former minister in Tony Blair’s government is seeking to make a comeback at Westminster almost a decade after losing his seat.

Douglas Alexander was in both Mr Blair’s cabinet and that of his successor Gordon Brown.

But in 2015 he lost his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat to the SNP’s Mhairi Black.

Mr Alexander will stand as Labour’s candidate for East Lothian in the next general election.

The seat is currently held by former Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, who left the SNP to join Alex Salmond’s Alba Party.

The East Lothian constituency will be one of Scottish Labour’s top targets when the next Westminster election is fought.

Announcing his selection on Twitter, Mr Alexander wrote: “He’s running! Humbled and grateful to be overwhelmingly selected today by local party members as Scottish Labour’s candidate for East Lothian.

“Change is coming to our country and I’m determined to play my part by winning East Lothian back for Scottish Labour.”

His candidacy comes more than 25 years after he was first elected to the House of Commons, winning the then-safe Labour seat of Paisley South in a by-election in November 1997.

After his role in helping co-ordinate Labour’s successful election campaign in 2001 he was made a junior minister in Mr Blair’s government, serving in various roles before being made both transport secretary and Scottish secretary in 2006.

When Mr Brown became prime minister in 2007, he appointed Mr Alexander as his international development secretary.

But at the 2015 general election the former shadow foreign secretary, who had a 16,000-vote majority, was defeated by Ms Black.

The then 20-year-old, who was a student at the University of Glasgow, became the youngest MP elected since 1667.

In recent years, Mr Alexander has worked as an advisor to U2 front man Bono, who has campaigned on issues including global poverty and the Aids crisis in Africa.

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

Mr Alexander is also currently a visiting professor at New York University and King’s College London.