As shadow foreign secretary, I have been as clear in my support for the government when it does something we agree with as I am in highlighting that which we oppose. – Douglas Alexander
David Cameron can change the branding of the party, but he can’t change the beliefs. – Douglas Alexander
Politics requires the sense of possibility. Dare I say it – the audacity of hope. – Douglas Alexander
Newspapers can make their own judgment in terms of who they support in a general election. Our responsibility is to make a considered judgment about where the national interest lies. – Douglas Alexander
My general approach to opposition is where the government is getting something right, we should say so. And where we disagree with them, we should say so, too. – Douglas Alexander
In this age of growing interconnectedness, we understand that turning our backs on the world is simply not an option. – Douglas Alexander
As Development Secretary, I have seen in the developing world that climate change there is not a theory, is not a future threat: it is a contemporary crisis. – Douglas Alexander
When I joined Labour in 1982, I didn’t feel I belonged to a party born to power. My repeated experience was of bitter and repeated defeats. – Douglas Alexander
For me, fiscal realism is not a betrayal of Labour values; it is the foundation by which we win the trust of the public. – Douglas Alexander
I take UKIP very seriously. The truth is that UKIP presents an electoral challenge to all political parties. The way to defeat UKIP is not to be a better UKIP but to be a better Labour Party. – Douglas Alexander
The Network Generation are secure in, and proud of, their Scottishness. Unlike my generation that grew up in the ’80s, they don’t see our sense of identity as under threat. – Douglas Alexander
David Cameron’s approach has left Britain weakened and weary because to retreat from the world is as foolish as it is futile. – Douglas Alexander
I don’t get up in the morning and think my mission is to end Britain. I do get up in the morning and think that my mission is to end poverty. – Douglas Alexander
The depth of concern people feel about UKIP is not always matched by depth of understanding. – Douglas Alexander
Historically, Labour has used technology as a form of control. We would use pagers and faxes to send out messages telling people what line to take. The key learning from the Obama campaign is to use technology to empower your supporters. – Douglas Alexander
What we are going to offer is not a one-way communication, but one-to-one communication. – Douglas Alexander
In an era of billion-person countries and trillion-pound economies, we need to find ways to amplify our voice. We are most likely to be heard when the Chinese negotiate with a ô?10 trillion E.U., not a ô?1.5 trillion Britain. – Douglas Alexander
I think politicians who suggest they are uninterested in the support of newspapers are not being straight with people. – Douglas Alexander
Change is a process: future is a destination. People want a sense of hope, possibility and pride about Britain. – Douglas Alexander
One of the big weaknesses of the Conservative Party is not just their ignorance of and lack of effective response to the cost-of-living crisis but a more fundamental error about what makes for success in the 21st century. – Douglas Alexander
If Nick Clegg hadn’t been sitting around the cabinet table, we wouldn’t have had the bedroom tax; we wouldn’t have had the rise in tuition fees. We wouldn’t have had the mistakes we’ve seen in economic policy. – Douglas Alexander
Part of the reason I am so evangelical in our campaigning work is that I had an unshakeable faith in Labour values, but we needed a machine worthy of the message. I grew up with a peerless Conservative machine, with vastly superior resources. – Douglas Alexander
I’m at one with Ed Miliband in saying that it’s important that people have the right to express their democratic voices and also their deep concerns about climate change because we have a planet in peril. – Douglas Alexander
Labour’s task for government is to build consent for an outward-looking Britain as the best way to advance not just our interests, but also our values at a time of challenge, both at home and abroad. – Douglas Alexander
There’s no doubt that what has emerged in the years after 9/11, unlike the situation in Britain, there were practices sanctioned in the U.S. that fall far below the standard of conduct that should have taken place. It is for the American system of government, in all of its branches, to address that. It is not for a British politician. – Douglas Alexander
I’ve never been interested in self-promotion and that side of politics; and if that means people judge that you’re less prominent than others, that’s a choice I’ve been willing to make. – Douglas Alexander
