Alex Allan
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Sir Alexander Claud Stuart Allan (born 9 February 1951) is a British civil servant who served as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of Intelligence Assessment for
Her Majesty's Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
between 2007 and 2011. He resigned as the Prime Minister's Independent advisor on ministerial standards in November 2020.


Early life

Allan is the son of
Robert Allan, Baron Allan of Kilmahew Robert Alexander Allan, Baron Allan of Kilmahew, (11 July 1914 – 4 April 1979) was a British Conservative politician. Allan was educated at Harrow School, Clare College, Cambridge and Yale University. He served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Res ...
. Between 1964 and 1969 Allan was educated at
Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...
, followed by obtaining a BA (Hon) degree in Mathematics from
Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...
in 1972. In 1973 he also received an MSc degree in Statistics from
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
.


Civil Service career

* 1973 to 1992 – Allan had various appointments in Customs & Excise and
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...
, aside from two years as a freelance computer consultant in Australia (1983–1985). * 1992 to 1997 – he was the
principal private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...
to the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
(
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
to April 1997, and
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
to Aug 1997). * 1997 to 1999 – he was the British High Commissioner to Australia. * 1999 to 2000 – he was e-Envoy for the British Government (succeeded by
Andrew Pinder Andrew Pinder, CBE, (5 May 1947 – 9 April 2017) led the Office of the e-Envoy from 2000 to 2004, reporting directly to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. He held the post of Chairman of Becta (a government agency, funded by the Department for Childr ...
). * 2001 to 2004 – he moved to Western Australia, where he worked on a range of IT, government and international issues. This included chairing of the inaugural
iVEC iVEC is the government-supported high-performance computing national facility located in Perth, Western Australia. iVEC supported researchers in Western Australia and across Australia through the Pawsey Centre and resources across the partner f ...
board.


Permanent Secretary of the Department for Constitutional Affairs

Allan was the first
Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...
of the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...
, having been the last Permanent Secretary of the
Department for Constitutional Affairs The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) was a United Kingdom government department. Its creation was announced on 12 June 2003; it took over the functions of the Lord Chancellor's Department. On 28 March 2007 it was announced that the Dep ...
from which it was created, together with the addition of
HM Prison Service His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and Wale ...
and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, which were taken from the Home Office. Allan served in both of these roles from 1 August 2004 to 15 November 2007. An historical attribute of the role of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and its predecessor departments (which included the
Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
's Department) is that it carries with it the role of Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, an ancient Office, which entails responsibility for overseeing the creation of Letters Patent under the Great Seal, discharged by the Crown Office, itself based in the House of Lords. The Clerk of the Crown in Chancery also has various other responsibilities, including the State Opening of Parliament, and the Prorogation of Parliament. Until the role of the Lord Speaker was carved out of that of the Lord Chancellor, the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery occupied one of Parliament's most prestigious rooms, adjacent to those of the Lord Chancellor. Allan was the last Permanent Secretary and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery to enjoy this splendid room, which he agreed to surrender to the House Authorities so that they could provide suitable accommodation for the newly created
Lord Speaker The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer, chairman and highest authority of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the member ...
. The only alternative would have been for his political master, the Lord Chancellor, to have given up his room. On 17 October 2006, Allan submitted oral evidence to the
Constitutional Affairs Committee The Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee (est. January 2003) of the United Kingdom was a select committee of the House of Commons which looked into the expenditure, policy and administration of the Department for Constitutional Affairs and asso ...
. He was questioned on the 're-organisation of the centre of the Department' (for constitutional affairs) which he stated in his annual report. Allan was asked what he thought were the key changes he had made to the department since his two years in the post. He stated that the key changes to the Department for Constitutional affairs were structural. Allan admitted the department faced big challenges and that there was a lot still to be done. Allan was also questioned over the 'chaos' of the Oracle system (a computer system used by the department). On 6 February 2007 Allan attended a meeting with the management board for the
Information Commissioner's Office The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is the independe ...
(ICO). His duty was to brief the board about the Department for Constitutional Affairs' approach to information rights and the ICO itself. In this meeting Allan recognised inadequate pay as being a key issue in the ICO and across the Department for Constitutional Affairs. On 4 July 2007, before the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Allan was asked whether he had written an article for MP
Vera Baird Dame Vera Baird, (''née'' Thomas; born 13 February 1950) is a British barrister and politician who has held roles as a government minister, police and crime commissioner, and Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales. A Labour Party Mem ...
in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. He denied the accusation.


Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)

On 15 November 2007 he was appointed Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of Intelligence Assessment. Allan's role was to collect intelligence from the Security Service,
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
, the Secret Intelligence Service,
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
,
GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...
and other sources of intelligence, and present them to ministers as threats developed. He had access to the Prime Minister at all times and also top secret US and UK intelligence reports. Allan was appointed
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...
(KCB) in the 2012 New Year Honours.


Independent advisor on ministerial standards

In November 2011 he was appointed by
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 ...
as the Prime Minister's independent advisor on ministerial standards. In 2012 he said to a public administration committee of MPs that if ever he were "bypassed", he would step down. He resigned from the post on 20 November 2020 after PM
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
backed Priti Patel following a report Allan had compiled that concluded that Patel's approach "amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying" and that she had "not consistently met the high standards expected of her". Christopher Geidt also resigned as ethics adviser under Johnson.


Personal life

Allan is responsible for a
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
lyric and song finder website. Allan windsurfed to work in a suit and bowler hat down the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
during a train strike. He published his personal details on his own website, including his address, telephone number and details of family and friends, which was described by a security official as "a serious breach". Allan lists bridge and computers as his interests.


Illness

On 3 July 2008 it was reported that Allan was unconscious and seriously ill in hospital after he collapsed at his home earlier in the week. Government sources said that there was no sign of foul play. It has been suggested by the media that Allan was poisoned by one of several organisations, including
Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
, or the Russian Government, but this was dismissed by
New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London' ...
. On 10 July 2008 a Cabinet Office spokesman said Allan had regained consciousness but for now would remain in hospital to regain his strength.
David Miliband David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of P ...
MP briefly mentioned Alex Allan and his illness in Parliament (17 July 2008): :Very briefly, I would like to put it on record that I have known Alex Allan for 11 years now, and a couple of hon. Members referred to his recent illness and passed on their best wishes to him. I am delighted to say that he will be able to recognise the warmth and strength of that feeling when it is passed on to him in hospital. I am sure that we all wish him a speedy and full recovery from his illness.Se
Hansard
On 13 October 2008 he reportedly responded to an enquiry concerning a personal bookplate (designed by Anne Jope). The unusual bookplate depicts a skeletal figure operating a computer.


References


External links


Whitegum.com
€“ personal website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Alex 1951 births Living people People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Civil servants in HM Customs and Excise Civil servants in HM Treasury Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Constitutional Affairs Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Justice Chairs of the Joint Intelligence Committee (United Kingdom) High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Australia Principal Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister Sons of life peers Alumni of University College London