Douglas Garven Alexander (born 26 October 1967) is a British Labour Party politician who served in the Cabinet from 2006 to 2010 under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the roles of Secretary of State for Scotland, Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary of State for International Development.
He subsequently served in Labour leader Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Foreign Secretary.
He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1997 to 2015, representing the Scottish constituencies of Paisley South (1997–2005) and Paisley and Renfrewshire South (2005–15).
Alexander was first elected to Parliament in the Paisley South by-election in 1997.
In 2003, he became a minister and held several positions including Minister of State for Europe from 2005–06.
At the 2005 general election, the Paisley South constituency was abolished and Alexander was elected to represent its successor seat of Paisley and Renfrewshire South.
He was appointed to the Cabinet by Tony Blair in 2006, serving as both Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Transport.
When Gordon Brown replaced Blair as Prime Minister in 2007, Alexander became the Secretary of State for International Development.
After Labour lost the 2010 general election and Ed Miliband became the party's leader, Alexander was elected to the Shadow Cabinet and was made the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
He held this position until a 2011 reshuffle, when he was appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary.
In October 2013, he was appointed by Miliband as the party's Chair of General Election Strategy.
In 2015, he failed to be re-elected to the Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat in the House of Commons, when it was won by Mhairi Black of the Scottish National Party.