Alexander, Douglas (1967- )

British Labour politician, member of Parliament from 1997 for Paisley South (and Paisley and Renfrewshire South from 2005), and secretary of state for international devlopment from 2007. A trained solicitor, he has been a Labour Party member since the age of 14.

Born in Glasgow, Alexander went to school in Erskine before studying abroad for two years in Vancouver, Canada, returning to Scotland to graduate from Edinburgh University, and then attending the University of Pennsylvania in the USA where he gained a masters degree. Having subsequently worked for a year as a parliamentary researcher, he trained as a lawyer prior to his election to the House of Commons in a by-election in 1997.

Following his re-election to Parliament in 2001, he was appointed minister for e-commerce and competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry until May 2002, when he became minister of state at the Cabinet Office, overseeing the government's strategy unit, the Central Office of Information, and the civil service. In 2003 he was appointed minister for the Cabinet Office and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and then minister of state for trade, investment, and foreign affairs from September 2004. Following his re-election in May 2005 for the new parliamentary constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire South, he served as minister of state for Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before his elevation to secretary of state for transport and Scotland in the May 2006 government reshuffle.