The Secretary of State for Late Britain
Douglas Alexander’s return to Cabinet office has, according to some, caused chaos and infighting in Scottish Labour. Mr Ian Murray, the Edinburgh South MP, was surprisingly dumped from the UK government on Friday as Keir Starmer announced his first reshuffle since becoming Prime Minister. Murray was however quickly reinstated a day later to a lower-level job, of something or other, at this stage who really cares?
The idea that you would ‘freshen-up’ your team and inject some new energy into it by appointing a man who had left front-line fifteen years ago and was emblematic of Labour failure after his defeat to Mhairi Black in 2024 is quite remarkable. It has similar energy to when Jack McConnell’s return was lauded by journalists like the Second Coming back in 2023 [‘Jack’s Back’].
The Scotsman reports that Alexander’s appointment hasn’t exactly been met with a wave of enthusiasm from his colleagues, referring to a ‘civil war’ [No Scottish Labour MPs have publicly welcomed Douglas Alexander as Scottish Secretary]:
“No Scottish Labour MPs has publicly welcomed Douglas Alexander as Scottish Secretary. None of the 37 Scottish Labour MPs have posted on social media to welcome the East Lothian MP to his new Cabinet role despite Mr Alexander being appointed on Friday.”
The Daily Record, normally a Scottish Labour faithful, got in on the act, leaking damaging quotes from embittered Labour MPs as the story unfolded:
Worth a watch. pic.twitter.com/SE2cmENqhc
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) September 7, 2025
Once again, we find ourselves in a position where the person meant to represent the people of Scotland in the British government is the first to close down even discussing a democratic settlement. It’s a very dangerous precedent for a political party to say “It doesn’t matter how you vote”. Alexander’s response to Martin Gaissler’s questioning was quiet contempt.
But if Murray-to-Alexander changes little, despite the fury and bitterness within Scottish Labour, nor does the flagellation about Angela Rayner’s departure and the hoo-ha about her replacement. As Labour mose-dives in the opinion polls (north and south of the border) we are asked to be interested in these marginal figures who you have never heard of are going to make a difference. This is the uber-bland politics of managed decline that has become the leitmotif of Labour. The arrival of Bridget Phillipson, Emily Thornberry or ‘Sarah Owen’ won’t make a difference to anyone or anything anywhere.
Labour have a messaging problem in Scotland that won’t be solved by replacing their absentee toady with their star player from the 1990s. In some ways, this is an attempt to just erase the past decade and pretend none of it really happened at all. In October 2013, Alexander was appointed by Ed Miliband as the party’s chair of general election strategy. Two years later in 2015, he lost his seat to 20 year-old Mhairi Black, in what was one of the worst results for Labour; with forty seats lost to the SNP nationwide. It’s a Janus-faced approach which wants us to – simultaneously – cling on to the result of 2014 as a perpetual and unchallengable totem – and also just screen wipe the last decade and Alexander’s disastrous role. Starmer is a latter-day resurrectionist, digging up the old cadaver of New Labour and selling it to whoever will pay him something for the rotten flesh, which increasingly is, no one at all.
Labour’s attempt to suppress democracy forever is a giveaway about how bankrupt they are of ideas or confidence. They can only cling to the past for so long before this decrepit strategy falters. When Labour collapse next year at the Holyrood elections, their retrograde strategies will be exposed for what they are. As I said elsewhere [Britain’s Broken, Now What?] : “All of the old post-war certainties of a two-party state in Britain are collapsing. The old duopoly of Labour-Conservative looks at this stage to be doomed, and what will replace them remains unclear.”
In this context, Alexander’s appointment seems bizarre. Out of time and out of place, he is the Secretary of State for Late Britain.
It is very ironic that Douglas Alexander, who had to pay £12,,000 expenses back after claiming expenses back on a second residence which he had rented out, should get a return to office on the back of Angela Raynor’s resignation for not paying the correct level of tax on a house purchase.
It has also not passed notice that this has happened on a day when the past has caught up on Mandelson another old ‘New Labour’ person that Keir Starmer brought back into office. In addition Douglas Alexander is a well now friend of Israel and has been appointed the week after Holyrood voted to condemn Israeli government actions.
This appointment just shows the contempt the Labour hierarchy have for Scottish Labour’ in particular and Scotland in general.
Starmer has been consolidating political patronage around himself for a while now. It’s not obvious but it is happening at a structural level. The beneficent appointment of a career apparatchik is just a more obvious example of it.
I like your inference that the role should be accurately titled The Secretary of State for Britain [in Scotland]
He advocates for Britain in Scotland, not Scotland in Britain, and that’s telling.
At a time when British people dragged the entire Edinburgh economy, the entire Highlands and Islands economy, hell, the entire Scottish economy, out of the world’s most lucrative international single market & customs union (and offer no route back except for independence) we should be engaging with Europe on ways to return, to put paving stones in place and a road map before indyref2
But I really like the Secretary of State for Britain notion – he’s the Farmer Harmer, not a Fisherman’s Friend & given Scotland is the only member of the UK that exports more than it imports [every year] the single market means more here.
The original role of SofS for Scotland was to represent Scotland’s interests in cabinet. Post devolution the need for this post has become questionable and more symbolic. Possibly a role as a bridge between Holyrood and Westminster. Unfortunately post 2014 and post Brexit the SofS appears to have become the government’s enforcer in Scotland.
One of the interesting but not surprising appointments is Imogen Walker to a junior position in the Whip’s office.Who she? the wife of Morgan McSweeny.
Thanks Ellie
Imogen’s background of employment by the RSPCA is interesting, given her current involvement in the politics of performative cruelty.
A bit surprising, I thought, that Ian Murray accepted this demotion when he could have returned to the backbenches. Being sacked by Keir Starmer will one day be seen as a badge of honour, I expect.
I note today that Fouglas Alexander had attacked John Swinney for ‘playing politics’ by travelling to USA to try and make case for reducing tariffs on Scotch whisky. DA has ignored the fact that engaging with Trump is not a popular option for many people in Scotland, that JS liaised with them ambassador Peter Mandelson and had the support of Scot’s Whisky Association not to mention the fact that JS is First Minister of Scotland and promoting Scottish business is a key part of FM job description. Looking at DA’s career I would have thought that if he had any self awareness DA would be very reluctant to accuse anyone of playing politics’ with any issue!
I always thought that ‘playing politics’ is a strange accusation to throw at a politician and is up there with ‘Student Politics’ as an meaningless accusation to make when you have no reasonable argument to make.