Douglas Alexander on why he's running again to be a Labour MP

Douglas Alexander prepares to canvas voters on Friday in Prestonpans, East Lothian

They say all political careers end in failure. Losing my seat in the 2015 general election might be what makes mine – if I still have one.

Not that it didn’t hurt profoundly at the time but in the near decade that has passed since, I have learned much – as a husband, a father and a son.

And I have realised that I am as passionate about the two things that drove me into politics – a thirst for social justice and a love for Scotland – as I have ever been. Perhaps more so.

Joining the Labour government elected in 1997 was a very proud moment. We achieved so much. The establishment of the Scottish Parliament has transformed Scotland for the better.

It also completed what one of my heroes, the late John Smith, referred to as “unfinished business”.

Well, in the last few years things I have seen in my personal life and in my work have left me feeling that I have some unfinished business of my own. Things I want to do for our communities and our families if I am fortunate enough to be elected as the Labour MP for East Lothian.

If there is one moment that perhaps crystallised it, it was this. I took a family member to a consultation with a surgeon at an oncology unit to discuss their treatment.

You can understand that it was a very emotional time with us both trying to be brave. And so I will admit I was on the verge of tears when I was alone with the surgeon and he said this. First, that he was going to take good care of my loved one. Second, that he was only able to do what he did because in government we – Labour – did what we did. He then asked me to step out of his office with him and he showed me a picture on the corridor wall of Donald Dewar, Scotland’s first First Minister, opening the hospital’s new oncology unit.

Now, you might think politicians saying they want to change ordinary people’s lives is just words. Well, I am one ordinary person in an ordinary family whose lives were changed immeasurably for the better by decisions taken by people like my friend, Donald Dewar.

That leaves me with unfinished business. A debt to repay.

Great to be out listening to and talking with voters in East Lothian this afternoon in quite the week in Scottish politics. pic.twitter.com/Hb56Xm6w4z

— Douglas Alexander (@D_G_Alexander) February 17, 2023

It may be difficult to recall, but at the time Donald was heavily criticised for prioritising heart, stroke and cancer treatment over other NHS priorities. He bore the criticism and showed the leadership needed to do the right thing. We need to get that moral strength back in our politics. It literally saves lives.

Growing up in politics in the ’80s, we clung to the belief that if we held on for the constitutional change of devolution then Scotland would be a better place. We hung on, delivered the parliament and then used it to take action to improve Scotland.

But it frustrates me that we now have a Scottish Government that has presided over Scotland’s decline for 15 years. Meanwhile, they say only a constitutional upheaval much more destructive even than Brexit – and at the cost of a couple of lost generations – will make Scotland better.

I profoundly disagree. If we have the will, Scotland can be so much better and I believe Scottish Labour will find the way.

Since I left elected politics – or rather more honestly elected politics left me, three general elections and five prime ministers ago – I have not been idle.

I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the greatest universities in the world – Harvard, New York, Chicago and Edinburgh among them – and I have learned much.

I know where the failure of politics can lead. I’ve seen at first-hand the refugee camps of Gaziantep in Turkey (where the earthquake has just happened) Zaatari in Jordan and Dadaab in Kenya, the world’s largest refugee camp.

In just the last year in Ukraine I observed mass graves. In Taiwan I was shown the defences being built for fear of being the next global flashpoint. We have so much to do.

There are few gifts to match being a father watching his kids growing up and flying the nest, becoming young adults of whom I am so proud.

I help care for my parents who held me when I was a vulnerable young life dependent on them for my existence, and I help hold them now as their vulnerability grows with age.

Everything learned in the last few years – painful or joyful – has shaped who I am today. A little older, yes, but hopefully a little wiser, too.

Simply carving out a pleasant enough life for yourself does not feel like enough. Not when the world is so unfair for so many people.

He’s running! Humbled and grateful to be overwhelmingly selected today by local party members as Scottish Labour’s candidate for East Lothian. Change is coming to our country and I’m determined to play my part by winning East Lothian back for Scottish Labour. https://t.co/JQALCs4KRR

— Douglas Alexander (@D_G_Alexander) February 12, 2023

I do not miss the “game” of politics. And I think those who glory in the “house of cards” approach really miss the point. I certainly have not missed the brutality of the keyboard warriors of social media.

But there is work to do and my mother and my father taught me that walking by on the other side was never an option.

I can promise the people of East Lothian I will put my heart and soul into earning their trust and – if given it – into making our communities, our country, better places to live and to love.

To care for your family, better yourself and prosper together.

I want to use all I learned in government and, as importantly, the experience acquired since I left parliament, to help make people’s lives better as my life, and the lives of my loved ones have been made better by those who have gone before.

John Smith said that all he sought was the opportunity to serve.

Decades on, we still have unfinished business and a need for people to serve. That’s why this week I took the first steps to – hopefully – re-entering public service.

Douglas Alexander is a former Labour minister and current candidate