THE former Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander has been selected for one of Labour’s top target seats at the general election.
Mr Alexander was last nighted chosen by members as the candidate for East Lothian, which is currently held by Alba’s Kenny MacAskill.
Mr Alexander, 55, overcame some fierce local opposition, amid accusations that he was a carpet-bagger with no connection to the area.
Born in Glasgow, he was a Paisley MP for 18 years, until being unseated by 20-year-old Mhairi Black in the SNP tsunami of 2015.
Confirming his selection on Twitter, he wrote: “He’s running!
“Humbled and grateful to be overwhelmingly selected 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.”
After helping co-ordinate UK Labour’s successful election campaign in 2001 Mr Alexander he was made a junior minister in Tony Blair’s government, serving in various roles before being made both transport secretary and Scottish secretary in 2006.
When Gordon Brown became prime minister in 2007 he appointed Mr Alexander his international development secretary.
Mr MacAskill, a former justice secretary, won East Lothian for the seat for the SNP in 2019 with a majority of 3,866 over Labour.
However he defected to Alex Salmond’s Alba party in 2021, and is seen as unlikely to hold it for Alba, making the seat a key Labour target.
Alba today demanded Mr Alexander apologise for supporting the UK’s participation in the Iraq War twenty years ago under Mr Blair.
The war was based on dictator Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction, but these proved to be a myth, and the country has been bloody and chaotic ever since.
Alba General Secretary Chris McEleny said an entire generation of Scots would never forgive the Labour Party for supporting the illegal invasion.
He said: “Douglas Alexander was a key member of Blair’s Government and he rose through the Government ranks as a thanks for his loyalty in situations such as backing the Iraq War.
“He is a part of a New Labour Old Guard that to this day have never offered an unreserved apology for the hundreds of thousands of lives that were lost as a result of their actions.
“Mr Alexander was also an enthusiastic supporter of the decision to bomb Libya and just like Iraq that has led to completely devastating and long lasting issues in the region.
“The people of Scotland strongly opposed the Iraq war. Those that supported it should have been answering questions at a War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, not trying to work their way back into elected office.”
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