Quotes from Douglas Alexander

A self-evidently confident politician, Cameron still suffers from a curious hollowness. Ten years after he became Conservative leader, many people still question what he actually stands for or believes in.

Any politician in a democracy has to be mindful of public opinion.

It was here in Edinburgh that in the 1980s I joined with many others to protest against Margaret Thatcher as she arrived to address the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

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.

The scale of the ISIS threat is not yet matched by a clarity of approach for securing their defeat.

Of course the decision to commit British forces in Iraq was, for many MPs, a wrenching choice. However, our responsibility in the face of a growing ISIS threat is not to be paralysed by history, but to learn the correct lessons from it.

I do think our challenge is to balance credibility and a clear message about how we would reduce the deficit with boldness about the choices that we put before the public.

Having disrupted business practices, social interactions and political campaigns, 2011 will be seen as the year that the rise of the Internet first disrupted foreign relations.

A politics that defines itself by difference holds no appeal for me.

In every generation, there are horrors that define an age and events that scar the global conscience.

Most people understand that Lehman Brothers didn't collapse because Gordon Brown built too many schools and hospitals.

Building the future holds more attraction than ancestor worship, whichever ancestor we're talking about.

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.

The style of politics that Damian McBride represents has been discredited, and Labour has moved on.

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.

For me, fiscal realism is not a betrayal of Labour values; it is the foundation by which we win the trust of the public.

Politics requires the sense of possibility. Dare I say it - the audacity of hope.

Kneejerk interventionism or kneejerk isolationism is the wrong course for Britain.

The Conservatives are so busy focusing on yesterday, they're not focused on tomorrow... on how elections are won in the 21st century.

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 £10 trillion E.U., not a £1.5 trillion Britain.

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.

Change is a process: future is a destination. People want a sense of hope, possibility and pride about Britain.

My vision for Scotland is one in which we fight together for the values we are care about: equality, fairness and social justice. Those values are the same whether you live in Dumfries or Carlisle.

Solidarity is the basis of my politics.