STV NewsScottish secretary Douglas Alexander is facing scrutiny over his transparency data after it emerged there were discrepancies in his meeting logs.
His Cabinet Office log from July to September 2025 has been left incomplete, despite the document being uploaded to the government website in December 2025.
It follows reports from Wednesday that his first external meeting as trade minister – with a lobbying firm founded by Peter Mandelson – was declared late.
His meeting with the firm Global Counsel was set up by the Labour peer just weeks after Alexander was made trade minister in July 2024, as revealed by documents detailing ministers’ interactions with Peter Mandelson on Monday.
Alexander was appointed minister of state at the Department for Business and Trade on July 6, 2024 and became minister of state in the Cabinet Office on February 10, 2025, holding both of those roles until he became Secretary of State for Scotland on September 5, 2025.
As a minister, he was required to submit details of any travel overseas or meetings with external figures involving government business.
Discrepancies have been found in his entries during his time at the Cabinet Office which are incomplete six months after the transparency documents were published.
Both his travel and meeting logs state ‘return pending’ rather than noting meeting details or, in the absence of any meetings, ‘nil return’.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said that this was due to “administrative errors by officials”, adding: “In his capacity as Minister of State in the Cabinet Office, Douglas Alexander undertook no overseas ministerial travel and held no external ministerial meetings.
“Every request for transparency information that was received by Douglas Alexander’s private office was shared as a nil return to the Cabinet Office in a timely manner.”
STV News understands Alexander was not aware of the Cabinet Office entry errors until Thursday.
On Wednesday, new SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan wrote to Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, calling for an investigation into whether Alexander broke the ministerial code after it emerged his meeting as trade minister with Global Counsel was declared almost 18 months late.
The code states: ‘If a minister meets an external organisation or individual and finds themselves discussing official business without an official present, any significant content should be passed back to the department as soon as possible after the event. Departments will publish quarterly details of ministers’ external meetings.’
The Department for Business and Trade said that the discrepancy was an ‘administrative error by officials’, stating: “The Department takes its transparency responsibilities seriously. An administrative error by officials was corrected in March 2026 as soon as it became apparent. This meeting was facilitated through official channels, was attended by officials and minuted by officials.”
Alexander’s meetings drew attention after the government’s response to the Humble Address on Monday revealed that Lord Mandelson had put the then-trade minister in touch with an employee from the lobbying firm he founded on July 22, 2024.
Nine days later, the meeting took place – but there is no detail on who from Global Counsel was present, or what the substance of the meeting was. STV News understands the discussion was more about the direction of the government’s trade policy rather than centring on Global Counsel.
Lord Mandelson was sacked in September 2025 after fresh revelations about his relationship with the convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein came to light.
In January 2026, documents of Jeffrey Epstein’s correspondence showed that Lord Mandelson had, when business secretary, leaked market-sensitive information with the US businessman. And when Lord Mandelson was undergoing vetting for the US ambassador role, his business links with Russia and China were flagged as security risks.
Doogan’s letter to the ethics adviser urges Sir Laurie Magnus to launch an ‘urgent’ probe into Alexander’s relationship with Lord Mandelson “and those organisations with which Lord Mandelson had a financial interest”, as well the reasons for discrepancies in his ministerial meetings.
Both the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business and Trade state that the errors were made by officials, and the government website notes that civil servants are responsible for publishing transparency data on time and accurately.
Alexander has been contacted for comment.
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