Douglas Alexander (PC 84-86) was appointed Secretary of State for International Development during Gordon Brown’s cabinet reshuffle.  Douglas is the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South.

 

Previously Douglas was Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary of State for Scotland. Other ministerial positions that Douglas has held since becoming an MP in 1997 include: Minister for Europe, Minister of Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, Minister for e-Commerce and Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry and Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

 

Douglas studied Politics and Modern History at the University of Edinburgh, following his time at Pearson College.  During this period Douglas was awarded a scholarship to study for a year at the University of Pennsylvania, an ivy league University in Philadelphia, USA. During his time in the States, he also worked as a Press Steward for the Dukakis Presidential Campaign, and worked for a Democratic Senator on Capitol Hill.

 

After graduating with a first class MA Hons Degree, he began work as a Parliamentary Researcher and Speechwriter for Gordon Brown MP, a position he held for a year, before returning to Scotland to qualify as a lawyer. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh LLB (Dist) in 1993, and gained his Diploma in Legal Practice the following year.

 

“I look back on my time at UWC with huge affectation and even greater gratitude.” said Douglas.  “Lester B Pearson UWC of the Pacific’s 100% full scholarship principle creates a fascinating and diverse mix of students from around the world.” 

 

“Undoubtedly my time at UWC has had a profound effect on shaping my subsequent work in public service.  My work as International Development Secretary for the British Government gives me the opportunity to give expression to many of the values I encountered whilst studying at UWC. 

 

“I recollect the words of Lester B Pearson when in his Nobel Lecture of 1957, he said ‘How can there be peace without people understanding each other, and how can this be if they don't know each other? How can there be cooperative coexistence, which is the only kind that means anything, if men are cut off from each other, if they are not allowed to learn more about each other?. Those words and that that vision have continued to inspire me in the two decades since I graduated from Lester B Pearson UWC of the Pacific.”