Andy Burnham becomes prime minister on Monday, and with the announcement of his new cabinet imminent, one question is whether Douglas Alexander will keep his job as Scottish Secretary. The speculation has been fuelled by suggestions that Alexander could be moved, but a strong argument has emerged for leaving him in place.
Alexander is not universally popular among his Scottish colleagues. His critics accuse him of being arrogant and overly brusque at times, especially to underlings. He is blamed by some for Scottish Labour’s dreadful performance in the recent Holyrood election, a campaign of which he was a key architect.
“Andy Burnham becomes PM Monday; Douglas Alexander's fate as Scottish Secretary uncertain amid criticism and calls to keep him.”
Yet, as one commentator notes, Scotland “isn’t blessed with great politicians. Let us keep this one.” The argument is that if Burnham has a mind to promote Alexander, that would be understandable – but if not, he should be left to get on with the job.
Burnham’s broader pitch, delivered last month at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, is to reverse the legacy of Thatcherism and return to a postwar golden age of social democracy. Critics have called this narrative “as misleading as it is seductive,” pointing out that centralisation was already well advanced by the 1970s, with the 1945 Labour government taking the biggest step by nationalising municipal functions.
The new prime minister’s language echoes past promises: “growth in every corner of the country,” “more money in people’s pockets,” and “people taking back control of what matters to them” – phrases that could have come from Labour’s 2024 local election campaign under Keir Starmer, who promised “full fat devolution” to tackle regional inequality. The task of bringing power and prosperity beyond London has become the sword in the stone of British politics, and Burnham is not the first to grip the hilt.
As Burnham prepares to take office, the question of whether Alexander stays or goes will test the new prime minister’s commitment to devolution – and whether he is willing to keep a Scottish Secretary who, despite his flaws, may be the best Scotland has.