| The Right Honourable Danny Alexander MP |
|
|---|---|
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 29 May 2010 |
|
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | David Laws |
| Secretary of State for Scotland | |
| In office 12 May 2010 – 29 May 2010 |
|
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Jim Murphy |
| Succeeded by | Michael Moore |
| Member of Parliament for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Constituency Created |
| Majority | 8,765 (18.6%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 May 1972 [1] Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Spouse(s) | Rebecca Hoar (m. 2005–present) |
| Children | Two daughters (Isabel Rose, born July 2007 and Isla, born May 2010) |
| Alma mater | St Anne's College, Oxford |
| Profession | Public relations |
| Website | Danny Alexander MP |
Daniel Grian Alexander (born 15 May 1972) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been Chief Secretary to the Treasury since 2010. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency since 2005.
In his first parliamentary term (2005-2010), Alexander was the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, the chief of staff to party leader, Nick Clegg, and Chair of the Liberal Democrat Manifesto Group (2007–2010).
With the 2010 UK general election producing a hung parliament, he played a key role in the four-man Liberal Democrat negotiating team and in the drawing up of the coalition document for the new Coalition Government with the Conservative Party. Alexander was initially appointed Secretary of State for Scotland,[2] but at the end of May 2010, he was promoted to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, following the resignation of David Laws.[3]
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Born in Edinburgh, Alexander lived on the island of Colonsay as a boy before his family moved to Glengarry. He was educated at Lochaber High School, Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, before reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at St Anne's College, Oxford.[4]
In 1993 and 1994, Alexander worked as a press officer with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, before spending eight years as the Director of Communications at the European Movement (1996–1999) and its successor organisation, the Britain in Europe campaign (1999–2004).
In 2004 and 2005, he was the Head of Communications for the recently formed Cairngorms National Park Authority.
Alexander was elected to the newly formed constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey in the 2005 UK general election. He won the seat from David Stewart, who was previously the Labour MP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, the basis of the new constituency. In August 2005 it was revealed that Christopher Haskins, Baron Haskins of Skidby, a Labour peer who was a friend of Alexander, had donated £2,500 to Alexander's campaign; subsequently Haskins was expelled from the Labour party for this action.[5]
At the start of the new parliament in 2005, Alexander was appointed by party leader Charles Kennedy as a junior spokesman for Work and Pensions, responsible for disability issues, where he contributed to debates on incapacity benefit reform, the Child Support Agency and the Turner Report on future pension provision in the UK. He was also a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee (2005–2008).
In 2007, he was appointed as Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Social Exclusion for six months, before becoming Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, holding the post until June 2008. He gave this post up to focus on his role as chief of staff to the new party leader, Nick Clegg, as well as his responsibility for leading the preparation of the party's election manifesto.[6]
In June 2008 Alexander gave up his role shadowing the Work and Pensions brief to become Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg.[7] As part of his role Alexander became the main author of the 2010 Liberal Democrat General Election manifesto and became a confidant of the leader.[8] His close relationship with Clegg is thought to have been central to his subsequent meteoric rise.[9] After the election Alexander became one to the key negotiators in the coalition discussions with the Conservatives and played a key role in the negotiating of the Coalition agreement alongside Oliver Letwin.[10]
Following the 2010 general election, Alexander was part of the Liberal Democrats key negotiating team alongside Chris Huhne, David Laws and Andrew Stunell that brokered the agreement to go into a governing coalition with the Conservatives.[11] He was initially appointed Secretary of State for Scotland for the coalition government, then was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury after the resignation of David Laws on 29 May 2010.[3] He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.[12]
Following the negotiations between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, Alexander was appointed to the cabinet as the Secretary of State for Scotland making him one of five Liberal Democrats to serve in the cabinet. Speaking about his approach to the role Alexander said it was "about ensuring the UK government can also work together with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament" and added "we've got a programme for government which we've set out which I think will deliver enormous benefits to the people of Scotland." [13]
As part of his role Alexander was given responsibility to implement the recommendations of the Calman Commission which would give more fiscal powers to the Scottish Parliament, the promise to implement the proposals had formed part of the coalition agreement.[14] (See also: Scotland Bill 2011)
In his first official visit to Scotland in his new capacity Alexander was accompanied by the Prime Minister David Cameron for a series of meetings with the First Minister Alex Salmond. Cameron called for a fresh start in relations between the parliaments in Westminster and Holyrood and committed to appearing every year to answer questions at the Scottish Parliament. Speaking of the coalitions support for the Calman Commission findings Cameron said "I believe, and Danny believes, we should be pursuing the Calman agenda. That is a much greater degree of fiscal autonomy for Scotland. I think that is right and that is what we want to put in place".[15]
Alexander's tenure as Scottish Secretary was short lived however and just over two weeks from his appointment on 29 May 2010 he was promoted to the role of Chief Secretary to the Treasury following the resignation of David Laws. Michael Moore, MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, replaced Alexander as Secretary of State for Scotland.[16]
The move to the Treasury and the effective number two position to chancellor George Osborne marked the continuation of a remarkable rise for Alexander who was now beginning his second cabinet post in under a month. The role effectively put Alexander in charge of the government's deficit reduction plan - a position of power which he particularly relished.[17]
Two days after being appointed to his new position, the Daily Telegraph newspaper published front-page allegations that Alexander had exploited a legal loophole to avoid the payment of capital gains tax on a property he had sold in 2007 alleging that he had profited from a "morally dubious" loophole to avoid paying capital gains tax. Just a few days earlier, the same newspaper had caused the resignation of Alexander's predecessor David Laws after finding irregularities in his expenses claims. The paper suggested that "the fact that Mr Alexander has become the second Lib Dem to face questions about his finances within three days has focused attention on whether the party leadership has properly audited the financial activities of its senior figures".[18]
Alexander had bought the property in question, a London flat, in 1999 and, after being elected to parliament for a Scottish constituency in 2005, designated the property as his "second home" whilst claiming that his first home was now in his constituency, the property was then sold in 2007 for a profit on which he paid no capital gains tax.[19] As the property was the only one he owned however, up until 2006, HM Revenue and Customs rules meant that capital gains tax was not payable as should someone find a buyer for their home within three years the property qualifies for relief from [capital gains tax] as long as the property has been the only or main home at some point. Speaking at the time Alexander said "I have always listed London as my second home on the basis set out in the parliamentary rules as I spent more time in Scotland than I did in London."[20] The Daily Telegraph itself claimed that "there is no suggestion that Mr Alexander has actually broken any tax laws".[21] Indeed, a few years earlier the Daily Telegraph had given advice to its readers in a financial column to behave the same way Alexander had.
On 8 June 2010 Alexander and the Chancellor George Osborne announced details of how they would conduct the governments spending review which would set spending limits for every government department for the period from 2011-12 up until 2014-15. As part of the review due to be announced on 20 October 2010 a star chamber was established chaired by both Osborne and Alexander designed to scrutinize the spending plans of each government department.[22] Shortly after the announcement of how the review would take place Alexander announced on 17 June 2010 that £2billion worth of projects agreed by the previous Labour government would be cancelled. The projects included an £80million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters and the cancellation of a £25million visitors centre at Stonehenge. Labour attacked the plans as an "attack on jobs" but Alexander countered by saying that the previous government had gone on a "pre-election spending spree in the full knowledge that the government had long since run out of money."[23]
Following the announcement on the cancellation of projects Alexander worked closely with the Chancellor George Osborne to produce an emergency budget on 22 June 2010 which announced a series of measures designed to reduce the United Kingdoms budget deficit. Measures included a rise in the rate of VAT from 17.5% to 20% starting in 2011, a rise in Capital Gains Tax from 18% to 28% and the introduction of a levy on the banks designed to raise £2billion a year.[24] Defending the budget against allegations that it disproportionately hit the poor hardest Alexander described it as "fair" and "progressive" saying "this is a Budget that protects the most vulnerable - especially children in poverty and pensioners - while ensuring those with the broadest shoulders take the greatest share of the burden.".[25]
Following the budget and in the intervening period until the spending review Alexander found himself at the heart of controversial spending decisions made by the government. A series of leaked letters from cabinet ministers showed that the spending review was causing strain within government departments including within the Department of Work and Pensions when a memo from Osborne to Iain Duncan Smith suggested that deep cuts to the welfare budget had already been agreed, prompting accusations by Labour that the cuts were a "vicious" and an attack on the poorest in society. In response Alexander said "I am not going to comment on a leaked letter but what I will say is that with welfare spending making up nearly £200bn, of course it is something we have to look at in the context of the spending review."[26] Further controversy came when the Treasury announced that the Ministry of Defence would have to include the £20billion replacement of Trident within their budget on top of potential cuts of potentially up to 10 and 20%.[27] The Secretary of State for Defence himself Liam Fox later wrote to David Cameron in another leaked letter saying that cuts in defence spending would seriously damage troops morale.[28] Ken Clarke however, the Secretary of State for Justice, said that he was "relishing" life back at the centre of government and said that the discussions on the spending review he had with Danny Alexander were "rather informal but quite intense and serious."[29]
On 19 October 2010, the day before the spending review was announced in the House of Commons, Alexander was photographed reading a memo which showed that as a result of the cuts the government would be announcing up to 490,000 public service jobs could be lost. The figure contained within confidential briefing papers came from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).[30] On 20 October 2010 the chancellor George Osborne announced the findings of the review which included the claim from the OBR. Other key points from the review included an average 19% cut in departmental budgets, the desire to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015, £7bn extra in cuts to welfare spending and a move for the retirement age to be increased to 66 for both men and women by 2020.[31] In a letter to Liberal Democrat members Alexander defended the cuts by saying "When we came into office, we inherited an economy that was on the brink. With the largest budget deficit in Europe and no plan for tackling it, Britain faced huge economic risks. These could only be dealt with by a clear plan to deal rapidly with the worst financial position this country has faced for generations." Despite the scale of the cuts announced Alexander, in his letter, went on to claim that the burden had been spread fairly by ensuring that key public services relied on by the most vulnerable in society had been protected. He emphasised the announcement of the 'fairness premium' designed to help the poorest children and noted that key transport projects had been given the go ahead as well as the announcement of a green investment bank.[32]
It was reported in the Independent in December 2011 that Danny Alexander had been involved in meetings[33] with bankers lobbying to avoid proposals in the Vickers Report[34] that were intended to reduce risks in the banking industry. The talks were alleged to be secret, but were obtained via a Freedom of Information request.
Alexander caused controversy after giving a speech to a group of businessmen that a £10 billion windfall tax on North Sea oil revenue in the 2011 budget was his idea.[35] The move has been estimated to cost up to 40,000 jobs[36] and have repercussions for the economy of Aberdeen.
Alexander married Rebecca Hoar in July 2005 in Chippenham. They have two children, Isabel,[37] (b. 2007), and Isla,[37][38] (b. 2010), and live in Aviemore.[39] He met his wife while working for the European Movement in London. She is a features editor for Psychologies magazine.
In October 2010 Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman criticised Alexander during her speech at the Labour Party's Scottish Conference making a personal insult referencing his red hair. The incident generated controversial media attention and Alexander responded stating he was "proud" of his hair colour. Harman later apologised, admitting her conduct was "wrong".[40][41]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey 2005–present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jim Murphy |
Secretary of State for Scotland 2010 |
Succeeded by Michael Moore |
| Preceded by David Laws |
Chief Secretary to the Treasury 2010–present |
Incumbent |
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