Douglas Garven Alexander (born 26 October 1967) is a British politician who has served as Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security since 2024, having previously held the role from 2004 to 2005.

In December 2022, Alexander sought out a return to Parliament by applying to be Labour's parliamentary candidate for East Lothian, held by the Alba Party's Kenny MacAskill.

In 1984 he won a Scottish scholarship to attend Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada, where he gained the International Baccalaureate Diploma, returning to Scotland to study politics and modern history at the University of Edinburgh.

The by-election in the highly volatile Tory seat of Perth and Kinross came in the middle of the John Major government and was won by Roseanna Cunningham of the Scottish National Party, but Alexander received enough votes to push the Conservative candidate into third place.

Alexander, who grew up in Renfrewshire, was chosen to contest the by-election and he was elected to serve as the Member of Parliament for Paisley South on 6 November 1997.

Following the general election in May 2005 Alexander was re-elected, becoming MP for the new constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire South, as well as promoted to Minister of State for Europe attending Cabinet at the Foreign Office.

He was rewarded by Tony Blair and was appointed Minister of State for e-Commerce and Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry in June 2001.

Following the 2005 general election, he was given the role of Minister of State for Europe, part of the Foreign Office, with special provision to attend Cabinet.

During the United Kingdom's Presidency of the Council of the European Union, he contributed directly to successful negotiations on agreement of the Multiannual Financial Framework.

Alexander is credited with devising the strategy for the campaign, including the successful 'Divorce is an Expensive Business' messaging unveiled at the Labour Party in Scotland Conference in Glasgow (March 1999).

[11] Labour secured 56 seats under the Proportional Representation system, nine short of an overall majority, and agreed to enter a coalition with the 17-strong Liberal Democrats to form the first Government in the newly established Scottish Parliament.

[16][18] In September 2012 Alexander gave an interview to the Evening Standard newspaper criticising Ken Livingstone's election campaign and calling out anti-Semitic comments made by the former London Mayor.

[19] Alexander said: "Ken's campaign too often looked like the past rather than the future and when I saw his remarks about the Jewish community in London in particular, I didn't just think it was ill-advised, I thought it was wrong".

[20] Livingstone hit back on Twitter, saying the Shadow Foreign Secretary "represents a failed New Labour project that lost millions of votes".

In 2011, Alexander was among the first to publicly condemn Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West for his comments regarding the religion of Britain's first Jewish ambassador to Israel.

[22] Alexander, who at the time was serving as Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, said in response to Flynn's comments about Ambassador Matthew Gould that: "The faith of any British diplomat is irrelevant to their capability to their job.

[26] On 3 May 2013, Alexander delivered the 4th Judith Hart Memorial Lecture for which he received a lot of media attention for addressing the issue of Scottish Independence ahead of the referendum to be held the following year.

In November 2015 Alexander started working as a senior advisor to Bono, helping secure investment to tackle global poverty.

He is a Council Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations,[35] a Trustee of the Royal United Services Institute,[36] and Chair of the Programme Committee at The Ditchley Foundation[37] Alexander has written and presented programmes for BBC Radio 4 including: the documentary: "A Culture of Encounter" (2017), in which Alexander brought together experts and community organisations to explore the cultural, economic, and political polarising forces in society.

[41] This series, in which Alexander explored the erosion of class, religion and security in society to explain why the ties that previously gave so many a shared sense of belonging have weakened, was nominated by BBC Radio 4 for the International URTI Radio Grand Prix (31st edition) Prize for Public Service Media and Social Networks.

[50] In May 2022, Alexander authored and presented Connections which examined whether recent crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russo-Ukrainian War, have helped bring people together or driven them apart.

[67][68] He has contributed to, authored and edited several books: "New Scotland New Britain" (1999),[69] "Europe in a Global Age" (2005),[70] "Serving a Cause, Serving a Community" (2006),[71] "Renewing our offer not retracing our steps", The Purple Book (2011),[72] "Influencing Tomorrow: Future Challenges for British Foreign Policy (2013),[73] and "Britain in a complex world", Why Vote Labour 2015: The Essential Guide (2014)[74] and "Rethink: How We Can Make A Better World" (2021), a collection of essays focused on a global 'reset moment' with leading international figures giving glimpses of a better future after the pandemic including contributions from Pope Francis, Niall Ferguson, Samantha Power and Paul Krugman.

His sister, Wendy Alexander, was also involved in politics as an MSP until 2011 and briefly as the Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament until she resigned in 2008.