FORMER Cabinet minister Douglas Alexander has confirmed he is to put himself forward to be selected as the Labour candidate in East or Mid Lothian, it is being reported.
Mr Alexander dramatically lost his Paisley and Renfrewshire seat in 2015 to the SNP's Mhairi Black when Labour was left with just a single MP in Scotland.
It was a humiliating blow for the former Scottish Secretary who was defeated by newcomer Ms Black, who was then just 20 and became the youngest MP since 1832.
She was elected SNP deputy leader at Westminster on December 6 in the same contest which saw Stephen Flynn become group leader.
Some Labour activists in East Lothian are reported to oppose Mr Alexander entering the contest and have accused him of running scared of taking on Ms Black who has a majority of 10,779.
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This morning the journalist and broadcaster Michael Crick wrote on Twitter: "I understand former Cabinet minister Douglas Alexander has submitted his application to be Labour candidate for the dual East Lothian/Midlothian selection."
Labour's twinning arrangement, such as that in place in East and Mid Lothian, requires there to be a gender balance on the short list of candidates across both constituencies.
Mr Alexander has not responded to emails sent to him from The Herald via the Royal United Services Institute, where he is a trustee.
Labour opened its process for candidate selection for East Lothian last week with an aide to Labour MP Ian Murray Katherine Sangster and a senior activist and communications specialist Gregor Poynton also said to be considering putting their names forward.
East Lothian is currently held by Alba's Kenny MacAskill, who was elected in 2019 for the SNP with a 3,886 vote majority, ousting Labour's Martin Whitfield. Mr Whitfield is now an MSP for South of Scotland.
Mr MacAskill told The Herald he intends to stand again and the SNP is also expected to stand.
East Lothian was held by Labour until 2015, when it went to the SNP before Labour took it back in 2017.
Mr Alexander – brother of former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander – was elected MP for Paisley South in 1997 and served as Labour's campaign co-ordinator at the 2001 general election before getting his first ministerial role in charge of e-commerce.
He later served as Transport and Scottish Secretary and then International Development Secretary.
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Since losing his seat he has had a number of different roles, from advising U2 singer Bono on tackling global poverty to lecturing at Harvard University in the US and making several radio programmes for the BBC.
He was also chair of the board of trustees for UNICEF UK, but stepped down in September 2020 following accusations of bullying. He was later cleared.
Supporters of Mr Alexander, a former chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, international development secretary and transport secretary, argue that he will bring valuable experience.
Scottish Labour want all their general election candidates to be unveiled in time for the party's Spring conference in February.
Constituency parties decide on whether they want a short or longer contest to select their candidate.
Candidates are short-listed by the party's Scottish Executive Committee with members then selecting who they want in constituency ballots.
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