SIR Danny Alexander is set to swap Scotland for China as the former Treasury chief is poised to move to Beijing for a lucrative senior position at the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The ex-Inverness MP, who lost his seat in the SNP General Election landslide, was, according to the Financial Times, nominated for the role by his former colleague at the Treasury, Chancellor George Osborne.
AIIB is China’s equivalent of the Washington-based World Bank. Both Britain and Germany are to be represented on the new bank’s board. Sir Danny, 43, is being tipped to become one of its vice-presidents.
It is thought the UK will represent a non-eurozone constituency on behalf of a “wider Europe” while Germany will represent the single currency area.
The appointments of the vice-presidents have yet to be formally confirmed and Sir Danny has refused to comment on his expected move from his Inverness home to the Chinese capital.
The Treasury stressed that it did not comment on speculation about appointments to international institutions but noted: “The UK has been a leading supporter of the AIIB from the outset, playing a significant part in the establishment of the bank, including as the first G7 country to join the bank.”
Meanwhile, former Rutherglen and Hamilton West Labour MP Tom Greatrex has been appointed chief executive of the trade body for the civil nuclear industry.
Tom Greatrex, who was an opposition spokesman on energy under Ed Miliband's leadership, succeeds Ketih Parker at the Nuclear Industry Association from next week.
He said: "I am delighted to be joining the Nuclear Industry Association at such an exciting time. Nuclear power is an integral part of a secure low carbon energy mix and, as the COP21 negotiations in Paris demonstrated, will have a key part to play in reducing global carbon emissions in the future.
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