LEAKED WhatsApp messages have exposed growing tensions among Labour MPs about how Douglas Alexander is performing as Scottish Secretary.
As reported by the Daily Record, the messages revealed Alexander's allies defending him after a round of hostile media briefings from unnamed Scottish Labour MPs.
In the messages, Alexander was accused of being the "most absent man in the Cabinet", having "disappeared completely" after the devolved parliament elections in Scotland and Wales, and the English council elections.
One former Holyrood candidate had said: "Douglas marched all the candidates up to the top of the hill, making people believe they were going into government. His disappearing act since the election has gone down badly."
The Record understands that the communications exposed a Scottish Labour MP saying that Alexander had assisted in running a “cloud cuckoo land” campaign based on a “fantasy” of winning 38 seats from the SNP:
In May, Labour had their worst performance in the history of Scottish devolution with just 17 MSPs brought back to parliament, a tie with Reform.
The leak resulted in Alison Taylor MP, Paisley and Renfrewshire North, rushing to Alexander's defence, saying she was "shocked" and surprised that colleagues would speak to the press and not "to people's faces".
The infighting comes as the Scotland Secretary was accused on Tuesday of “going into hiding” amid calls for him to resign, after he sent a junior minister on a key trade trip to China.
The Lothian East MP has come under increasing scrutiny after files released by the UK Government showed Peter Mandelson introduced him to a lobbying firm he set up with links to Russia and China.
Documents released showed that Mandelson, who was sacked as UK ambassador to the US last year over his links with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, introduced Alexander to contacts in the Global Counsel lobbying firm he co-founded in 2010. Mandelson resigned from the board in 2024, but continued to own shares.
An email sent when Alexander was a trade minister in the UK Government showed him thanking Mandelson for the introduction.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said the messages showed Mandelson was "pulling the strings of Douglas Alexander and treating him as a puppet" and showed the Labour MP "isn't fit to be in government" and "must be sacked".
The UK Government's Scotland Office have been approached for comment.
