By Andrew Gimson
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Danny Alexander has the gift of seeming entirely unthreatening. In the summer of 2010, when at the age of 38 he unexpectedly became Chief Secretary to the Treasury, it appeared he might also turn out to be entirely ineffectual.
His predecessor, David Laws, had the air of a brilliant young surgeon who was looking forward to making the deep cuts in public spending which were needed to save us from collapse. Mr Laws knew precisely how he was going to conduct the operation, but no sooner had he made the first stylish incisions with his scalpel than he was forced by a scandal to do with his own expenses to resign.
Mr Alexander was the emergency replacement. It was not clear he had ever held a scalpel, or knew anything about money. For while Mr Laws was a former investment banker, Mr Alexander was a former Head of Communications for the Cairngorms National Park Authority.