Friday, 21 May 2010

The rise and rise of Danny Alexander

May 21, 2010 Jim Pickard

Of all the new cabinet ministers surely one of the most obscure - until recently - is Danny Alexander, who was chief of staff for Nick Clegg. Alexander has played a key role in producing the Lib Dem manifesto and in the coalition talks of recent days, working closely with the Tories’ Oliver Letwin to produce yesterday’s coalition agreement.
The 38-year old (PPE from Oxford, of course) was until 2005 the head of communications for Cairngorms National Park Authority (2004-5). Before that he was head of comms for Britain in Europe.
For proof of his newfound power, far beyond his title of Scotland secretary, it’s worth seeing the new list of cabinet committees, which has just been released by the Cabinet Office.
Of the 11 committees, he sits on no fewer than eight: Coalition committee, Operation and strategic planning group, National security council, European affairs, Home affairs, Economic affairs, Banking reform and Parliamentary business and legislation.
Letwin also sits on most of the committees; but as a former shadow home secretary - and with 25 years in politics - his profile was already pretty high.
Tags: Danny Alexander