Boat of Garten, Highland, Scotland. 26th April 2015. Highland Liberal Democrat and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander is in a close contest with Drew Hendry SNP for the Badenoch and Strathspey parliamentary seat at the May7th elections. Credit: David Gowans/Alamy Live News. SCO 9712
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, 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. Front bench spokesman 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. Chief of staff to Nick Clegg 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. 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. 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.
Size: 2132px × 2791px
Location: Boat of Garten, Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland Region. Inverness-shire. Scotland. UK.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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