Alistair Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish
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Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) from
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until he stepped down in
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, most recently for
Edinburgh South West Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used at the 2005 UK general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. S ...
. Darling was first appointed as
Chief Secretary to the Treasury The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burden ...
by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997, and was promoted to
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Department for Work and P ...
in 1998. After spending four years at that department, he spent a further four years as
Secretary of State for Transport The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...
, while also becoming
Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...
in 2003. Blair moved Darling for a final time in 2006, making him
President of the Board of Trade The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centu ...
and
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a memb ...
, before new Prime Minister Gordon Brown promoted Darling to replace himself as
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
in 2007, a position he remained in until 2010. He served as Chancellor during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the Great Recession. From 2012 to 2014, Darling 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. On 3 November 2014, Darling announced that he was standing down at the 2015 general election. He was nominated for a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
age in the
2015 Dissolution Honours The 2015 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 27 August 2015 upon the advice of the Prime Minister, David Cameron. The Life Peerages were announced separately from the other appointments, while it was gazetted as a single list on 22 September 2 ...
and was created Baron Darling of Roulanish, of Great Bernera in the County of
Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latt ...
, on 1 December 2015. He retired from the House of Lords in July 2020. Darling was a vocal advocate for the
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campaign for the EU referendum on 23 June 2016.


Early life

Alistair Darling was born in London the son of a
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
, Thomas, and his wife, Anna MacLean. He is the great-nephew of
Sir William Darling Sir William Young Darling CBE FRSE LLD MC (8 May 1885 – 4 February 1962) was the Unionist Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons for the Edinburgh South constituency from 1945 to 1957. He was a director of the Royal Bank of S ...
, a Conservative/ Unionist Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South (1945–1957) who had served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh during the Second World War. He was educated at
Chinthurst School Chinthurst School is an independent co-educational nursery, pre-preparatory and preparatory school in semi-rural surroundings in the village of Tadworth, Surrey, England, 15 miles south of the centre of London. As a member of the RGS Group, ...
, in Tadworth,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, then in
Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
, and at the private
Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 0 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. L ...
, in
Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...
. He attended the University of Aberdeen, from where he graduated as a Bachelor of Laws (LLB). He became the president of Aberdeen University
Students' Representative Council {{Unreferenced, date=July 2014A students' representative council, also known as a students' administrative council, represents student interests in the government of a university, school or other educational institution. Generally the SRC forms par ...
. Darling joined the Labour Party aged 23, in 1977. He became a
solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
in 1978, then changed course for the Scots bar and was admitted as an advocate in 1984. In 1982 he was elected to the
Lothian Regional Council Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Sc ...
, where he supported large
rates Rate or rates may refer to: Finance * Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government * Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another Mathematics and science * Rate (mathema ...
rises in defiance of Margaret Thatcher's rate-capping laws, and even threatened not to set a rate at all.p5, ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
'' no. 1218, 5–18 September 2008
He served on the council until he was elected to the House of Commons. He was also a board member for the Lothian and Borders Police and became a governor of Napier College in 1985, until his election as an MP two years later.


Member of Parliament

He first entered Parliament at the 1987 general election in Edinburgh Central, defeating the incumbent Conservative MP, Sir
Alexander Fletcher Alexander Fletcher or Alex Fletcher may refer to: * Alexander Fletcher (British politician) (1929–1989), known as Sir Alex Fletcher, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the UK * Alexander Fletcher (colonial politician), Canadian politician ...
, by 2,262 votes; and remained an Edinburgh MP for 28 years until he stood down in 2015. Following the creation of the devolved
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
, the number of Scottish seats at Westminster was reduced, and the Edinburgh Central constituency he represented was abolished. Following the 2005 general election he represented the
Edinburgh South West Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used at the 2005 UK general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. S ...
constituency. The Labour Party was so concerned that Darling might be defeated, that several senior party figures, including Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Chancellor Gordon Brown, made encouragement trips to the constituency during the campaign. Despite being a senior
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
Minister, Darling was hardly seen outside the area, as he was making the maximum effort to win his seat. In the event, he won it with a majority of 7,242 over the second-placed Conservative candidate, they having been held back by the Liberal Democrats coming in a close third. Darling won by a semi-marginal to safe 16.5% margin on a 65.4% turnout. In
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
despite Labour's defeat nationally he received an increased majority of 8,447 or 18.5%.


Shadow Cabinet

As a
backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
he sponsored the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1988. He soon became an Opposition
Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
spokesman in 1988 on the front bench of Neil Kinnock. Following the 1992 general election, he became a spokesman on Treasury Affairs, but was promoted to Tony Blair's Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1996.


In government

Following the 1997 general election, he entered Cabinet as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In 1998, he was appointed
Secretary of State for Social Security The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Department for Work and P ...
, replacing Harriet Harman who had been dismissed. Following the 2001 general election, the Department of Social Security was abolished and replaced with the new Department for Work and Pensions, which also took employment away from the education portfolio. Darling fronted the new department until 2002 when he was moved to the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
, after his predecessor Stephen Byers resigned.


Secretary of State for Transport

Darling was given a brief to "take the department out of the headlines". He oversaw the creation of Network Rail, the successor to Railtrack, which had collapsed in controversial circumstances for which his predecessor was largely blamed. He also procured the passage of the legislation – the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 – which abolished the
Rail Regulator The Rail Regulator was a statutory office, created with effect from 1 December 1993 by section 1 of the Railways Act 1993, for the independent economic regulation of the British railway industry. The office was abolished from 4 July 2004, using ...
and replaced him with the Office of Rail Regulation. He was responsible for the Railways Act 2005 which abolished the
Strategic Rail Authority The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for Rail transport in the United Kingdom, the railway industry. Its motto was 'Brita ...
, a creation of the Labour government under the Transport Act 2000. Darling was also responsible for the cancellation of several major Light Rail schemes, including a major extension to Manchester Metrolink (later reversed) and the proposed Leeds Supertram, citing rising costs of £620million and £486M respectively. Darling gave the government's support to the Crossrail scheme for an east–west rail line under London, whose £10 billion projected cost later rose to £15bn. Although he was not at the Department for Transport at the time of the collapse of Railtrack, Darling vigorously defended what had been done in a speech to the House of Commons on 24 October 2005. This included threats that had been made to the independent Rail Regulator that if he intervened to defend the company against the government's attempts to force it into railway administration – a special status for insolvent railway companies – the government would introduce emergency legislation to take the regulator under direct political control. This stance by Darling surprised many observers, because during his tenure at the Department for Transport, he had made several statements to Parliament and the financial markets assuring them that the government regarded independence in economic regulation of the railways as essential.


Secretary of State for Scotland

In 2003, when the
Scotland Office The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland ( gd, Oifis Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba), often referred to as, and formerly officially called, the Scotland Office, is a department of His Majesty's Government headed by the Secretary of Sta ...
was folded into the Department for Constitutional Affairs, he was appointed
Scottish Secretary The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...
in combination with his Transport portfolio.


Secretary of State for Trade and Industry

In the
Cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...
of May 2006, he was moved to be
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a memb ...
; Douglas Alexander replaced him as both
Secretary of State for Transport The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...
and
Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...
. On 10 November 2006 in a mini-reshuffle, Malcolm Wicks, the Minister for Energy at the Department of Trade and Industry, and thus one of Darling's junior ministers, was appointed Minister for Science. Darling took over day-to-day control of the Energy portfolio.


Chancellor of the Exchequer

On 28 June 2007, the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Darling
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
, a promotion widely anticipated in the media. Journalists observed that three of Darling's four junior ministers at the Treasury (
Angela Eagle Dame Angela Eagle DBE (born 17 February 1961) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Eagle was born in Yorkshire and studied PPE at the University of Oxford, before working for t ...
,
Jane Kennedy Jane Kennedy may refer to: *Jane Kennedy (courtier) (died 1589), Scottish courtier *Jane Kennedy (actress) (born 1964), Australian actress and comedian *Jane Kennedy (politician) (born 1958), British Labour Party Member of Parliament See also *Jay ...
and
Kitty Ussher Katharine Anne Ussher (born 18 March 1971) is a British economist, former Labour Party MP and Treasury minister, and former Chief Executive of the Demos think tank, who is now chief economist at the Institute of Directors. She is also a Non Ex ...
) were female and dubbed his team, "Darling's Darlings". In September 2007, for the first time since 1860, there was a
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on a British bank, Northern Rock. Although the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
and the
Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...
have jurisdiction in such cases, ultimate authority for deciding on financial support for a bank in exceptional circumstances rests with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The
2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the coll ...
had caused a liquidity crisis in the UK banking industry, and Northern Rock was unable to borrow as required by its business model. Darling authorised the Bank of England to lend Northern Rock funds to cover its liabilities and provided an unqualified taxpayers' guarantee of the deposits of savers in Northern Rock to try to stop the run. Northern Rock borrowed up to £20bn from the Bank of England, and Darling was criticised for becoming sucked into a position where so much public money was tied up in a private company. In March 2008, Darling's Budget was criticised in a media campaign spread by a social networking site. Amid anger at the rise in alcohol duties, James Hughes, a landlord in Edinburgh (where Darling's constituency was based) symbolically barred Darling from his pub, and a passing reporter from the '' Edinburgh Evening News'' ran the story. A Facebook group was created, leading dozens of pubs across Britain to follow Hughes, barring Darling from their pubs. The story was eventually picked up by most national press and broadcast media in Britain, and
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, Leader of the Opposition at the time, cited the movement at Prime Minister's Questions on 26 March.


Budgets

On 12 March 2008, Darling gave his first
budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...
in the House of Commons. On 22 April 2009, Darling delivered his second budget speech in the House of Commons. To stimulate the motor industry, a £2,000 allowance was announced for a car more than 10 years old, if it was traded in for a new car. A 50% tax band was announced for earners of over £150,000 to start the following tax year. Darling also announced that Personal allowance would be tapered down by £1 for every £2 earned above £100,000 until it reached zero. This resulted in an anomalous effective marginal tax rate of 60% above £100,000, with the marginal tax rate returning to 40% for incomes above £112,950. Gordon Brown confirmed on 10 March 2010 that Alistair Darling would deliver his final Third budget before the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, which was delivered on 24 March 2010.


Child benefit data scandal

Darling was Chancellor of the Exchequer when the confidential personal details of over 25million British citizens went missing while being sent from his department to the National Audit Office. A former Scotland Yard detective stated that with the current rate of £2.50 per person's details this data could have been sold for £60,000,000. The acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable, put the value at £1.5bn, or £60 per identity.


Storm warning

In an interview in ''The Guardian'' published 30 August 2008, Darling warned, "The economic times we are facing ... are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years. And I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought." His blunt warning led to confusion within the Labour Party. However, Darling insisted that it was his duty to be "straight" with people. In October 2008 the government bailed out the Royal Bank of Scotland as part of the 2008 bank rescue package; Darling said in 2018 that the country was hours away from a breakdown of law and order if the bank had not been bailed out.


10% income tax band

Darling's predecessor, Gordon Brown, just before he became Prime Minister, had abolished the 10% starting rate on income tax and reduced the basic rate of income tax from 22% to 20% in his final budget on 21 March 2007; this was to come into effect in the tax year starting 6 April 2008. This was not amended in Darling's 2008 budget. Although the majority of taxpayers would be marginally better off as a result of these changes, around 5,100,000 low earners (including those earning less than £18,000 annually) would have been worse off. On 18 October 2007, the Treasury released statistics which established that childless people on low incomes could lose up to £200 a year as a result of the changes, while parents and those earning more than £20,000 would gain money. Increasing political backlash about the additional tax burden for some put immense pressure onto the government; including Darling with Gordon Brown facing criticism from his own Parliamentary Labour Party. In May 2008 Darling announced he would help low-paid workers hit by the scrapping of the 10p rate, by raising that year's personal tax allowance by £600 funded by borrowing an extra £2.7bn.


Stimulus spending

To boost falling demand, the government announced an additional £20bn spending package. Subsequently, Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, warned the government against further stimulus spending, due to insecure public finances.


Later activities

Following the defeat of the Labour Party at the 2010 general election, Darling announced that he intended to leave frontbench politics. On 17 May 2010, it was reported that he stated: "It has been an honour and a tremendous privilege but I believe it is time for me to return to the backbenches from where I shall look after, with great pride, the constituents of Edinburgh South West." Darling suggested on 7 September 2010 on '' The Daily Politics'' show that he was only intending to take a "year out" and may possibly reconsider his future.


Expenses claims

In May 2009, '' The Daily Telegraph'' reported that Darling changed the designation of his second home four times in four years, allowing him to claim for the costs of his family home in Edinburgh, and to buy and furnish a flat in London including the cost of
stamp duty Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on single property purchases or documents (including, historically, the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions). A physical revenu ...
and other legal fees. Darling said that "the claims were made within House of Commons rules". Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, criticised him by saying: "given that very unique responsibility that arlinghas
s Chancellor S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histo ...
it's simply impossible for him to continue in that role when such very major question marks are being raised about his financial affairs". A former
Scottish Labour Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak of ...
Chairman and treasurer described Darling's position as "untenable" and said that " arlingcertainly shouldn't be in the Cabinet". On 1 June 2009, Darling apologised "unreservedly" about a mistaken claim for £700, which he had agreed to repay. He was supported by the Prime Minister, who referred to the incident as an inadvertent mistake. In 2010, he resigned from the Faculty of Advocates as they were investigating a complaint about his expenses claims. Darling denied any connection between the two events.


Better Together campaign

Darling was the Chairman and one of the directors of the Better Together campaign, which campaigned for a "No" vote in the
2014 referendum on Scottish independence A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side wo ...
. He was involved in the campaign's launch in June 2012, delivered a speech on the subject in the annual John P Mackintosh lecture in November 2012, and addressed a fringe meeting at the Scottish Conservative Conference in June 2013. In August 2014, Darling took part in '' Salmond & Darling: The Debate'' and '' Scotland Decides: Salmond versus Darling'', televised debates with First Minister Alex Salmond on the pros and cons of Scottish Independence. Darling was criticised by some Scottish Labour MPs and supporters who believed that working with Conservatives on the Better Together campaign might damage Labour's prospects in Scotland. At the general election a year after the referendum, Labour lost all but one of their seats in Scotland to the SNP, with swings of over 30% in several seats, including a UK record swing of 39.3% against Labour in Glasgow North East.


House of Lords

Darling was nominated for a peerage in the
2015 Dissolution Honours The 2015 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 27 August 2015 upon the advice of the Prime Minister, David Cameron. The Life Peerages were announced separately from the other appointments, while it was gazetted as a single list on 22 September 2 ...
, becoming Baron Darling of Roulanish and taking his seat in the House of Lords on 10 December 2015. On 28 July 2020, Lord Darling retired from the House of Lords, citing distance and the COVID-19 pandemic.


Personal life

Darling had a brief previous marriage when young, but has been married to former journalist Margaret McQueen Vaughan since 1986; the couple have a son (Calum, born 1988) and daughter (Anna, born 1990). Margaret Vaughan worked for Radio Forth, the '' Daily Record'' and Glasgow '' Herald'' until Labour's election victory in 1997. Darling's media adviser, the former ''Herald'' political journalist, Catherine MacLeod, is a close friend of Vaughan and Darling, as well as being a long-standing Labour Party supporter. A sister Jane works as a cook and lives in Edinburgh. Darling has admitted to smoking cannabis in his youth. He enjoys listening to
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
, Coldplay, Leonard Cohen and the American rock band The Killers.


Notes


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Rt Hon Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer
''HM Treasury'' (archived) *
Kaupthing Controversy
''theukgovernment.com'' *
BBC Radio 4 ProfileLord Darling of RoulanishAlistair Darling , Politics , The Guardian
* , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Alistair 1953 births Living people Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Anglo-Scots British Secretaries of State Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom International Marxist Group members Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies People associated with Edinburgh Napier University People educated at Chinthurst School People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh Scottish biographers Scottish Labour councillors Scottish Labour MPs Scottish solicitors Secretaries of State for Scotland Secretaries of State for Transport (UK) Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Writers from London Presidents of the Board of Trade Shadow Chancellors of the Exchequer Chief Secretaries to the Treasury