Danny Alexander

Born in 1972, Danny Alexander grew up in the Highlands and Islands and went to Lochaber High School in Fort William. He then went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford. After this Danny worked as a press officer for the Scottish Liberal Democrats before spending four years at the European Movement and then four years as Director of Communications for the Britain in Europe campaign.

In 2003 he was appointed the Head of Communications for the recently formed Cairngorms National Park Authority before becoming an MP for the newly created seat of Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch & Strathspey in the 2005 election.

Danny joined the shadow Work and Pensions team in 2005 and in July 2007 he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, holding the post until June 2008. He gave this up to concentrate on the roles of Chief of Staff to the party leader, Nick Clegg, and Chair of the Manifesto group.

He played a key role in the negotiating team and in the drawing up of the coalition document for the new Government. Danny was initially appointed Secretary of State for Scotland. At the end of May 2010, he was promoted to become Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Danny was appointed to the Privy Council in May 2010.

Danny is married with two daughters. His parliamentary responsibilities combined with having a young family do not afford a lot of time for hobbies but when they do he enjoys hill-walking, fishing, travel and sports of all kinds.