The Estate of Alistair Darling

Alistair Darling was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2015, most recently for Edinburgh South West. He was a member of the House of Lords between 2015-20.

Initially appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1997, he moved to become Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 1998. He spent another four years as Secretary of State for Transport, also becoming Secretary of State for Scotland in 2003. He served as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in 2006, before Gordon Brown promoted him to Chancellor of the Exchequer – a position he held in the Labour Government from 2007 to 2010.

In 2011, Alistair published his memoirs of his time in the Cabinet. Back from the Brink: 1,000 Days at Number 11 mainly deals with the government’s response to the financial crisis but it also reveals much about the Labour Party under Gordon Brown.

From 2012 to 2014, Alistair was the Chairman of the ‘Better Together Campaign’, a cross-party group that successfully campaigned for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom in the 2014 independence referendum.