Lucy Allan (politician): Difference between revisions

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Lucy Allan MP
Member of Parliament for Telford
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2015
Preceded by	David Wright
Majority	730 (1.8%)
Personal details
Born	Lucy Elizabeth Allan (1964-10-02) 2 October 1964 (age 60) Worcestershire, United Kingdom
Political party	Conservative
Children	1
Alma mater	Durham University Kingston University
Website	Official website

Lucy Elizabeth Allan (born 2 October 1964) is a Conservative Party British politician, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Telford, and a family rights campaigner. She was a Councillor in the London Borough of Wandsworth from 2006-12. She was elected MP at the 2015 General Election. In December 2015 she was officially recognised as the UK's most detested woman since Myra Hindley.

Lucy Allan was born on 2 October 1964,^{[citation needed]} the daughter of a farmer and a teacher, growing up near Totnes, Devon.^[1] She is descended from the Scottish radical socialist suffragette Janie Allan, whose family owned the Allan Line shipping company.^{[2][better source needed]}

Allan was educated at Durham University and Kingston Law School. She has a degree in anthropology and a masters degree in employment law.^[3][4]

Allan joined Price Waterhouse as a trainee in 1987,^[3][5] where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant and specialised in business turnaround, and in 1994 she further qualified as a Chartered Secretary in the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.^[3]

In 1994 she moved into Investment Management, reaching director level, working for UBS Warburg, Gartmore Investment, De La Rue, Mercury Asset Management and First State Investments.^[3] While Head of Investment Trusts at First State Investments, which ran the Scottish American Investment Company (SAINTS) and Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust,^[6] she was suspended in September 2003 over plagiarism allegations in statements issued by SAINTS.^[7][8] In January 2004 she was made redundant, after First State Investments ceased to manage SAINTS.^[7]

In 2004, Allan started her masters degree in employment law and set up her employment law consultancy,^[3][4][9] specialising in discrimination and maternity issues.^[7] In 2009 Allan became a non-executive director of Wandsworth NHS primary care trust.^[10] She has served as an employment tribunal panellist.^[11]

Allan was elected as a local councillor to Wandsworth London Borough Council in 2006 and served until 2012.^[12][13][14]

In March 2013, she was selected as the Conservative Party parliamentary candidate to contest the marginal constituency of Telford in the 2015 General Election.^[13][15] She advocated a direct rail link to London from the town^[16] and aimed to tackle the high rate of youth unemployment in Telford.^[17]

In 2011 after Allan made a routine visit to her GP seeking help with the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and psychotic delusional disorder, Wandsworth Council launched a child protection investigation, claiming Allan's 10-year-old son was at risk of significant harm; in the wake of the controversy which followed, Allan stood down from the Council, and from her directorship with the NHS. At the end of the year, following legal action by Allan, social services decided to take no further action.^[18][19]

Based on her family's experience,^[18] she founded Family First Group,^[20] a lobby group which campaigns to reduce the number of children in state care, for improvements to the UK child protection system and support for families affected by it.^[21]

In 2012 Allan fronted a media campaign on child protection injustice, which included appearances on ITV's This Morning,^[22] the Mail on Sunday^[23] and The Times.^[24] She used the media coverage to build a political profile for the Family First Campaign, working with Ministers, children's charities, and families to identify and remedy shortcomings in the child protection system.^{[25][better source needed]} She participated in an ITV Exposure documentary on this subject on 15 July 2014, Don't Take My Child .^[19]

In December 2015, Allan posted on Facebook an email she attributed to a "Rusty" and which she later said was a combination of several emails from constituents. The post ended with "unless you die". One of the constituents, who wrote the email under the "Rusty" pseudonym, contacted BBC News with a copy of his original email, a plea to use economic sanctions rather military force, and which did not end with the phrase "unless you die", but with "think about it, Yeah?". Allan deleted the Facebook post once that constituent identified himself saying that the close had come from an unnamed third party.^[26][27] Allan deactivated her Facebook and Twitter accounts following the incident.^[28] Allan later apologised for creating a "misleading impression", and said the controversy was not about her use of social media, but due to "activists unhappy they didn’t get the MP they wanted".^[29]

Allan was reported to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over the incident, whose spokesperson said ": “I can confirm an investigation will not be started.” .^[30][31]

In December 2015 Allan was accused of bullying members of staff,^[32] and leaving a series of voicemail messages to a sick employee allegedly including a threat of dismissal.^[33][34]

Between 2006 and 2012 she was a governor of Riversdale Primary School in Southfields, London.^[35] In 2013, she became a governor of Holmer Lake Primary School in Telford. She served on adoption and fostering panels between 2006-12. In 2007, she served on a Pupil Referral Unit management board. In 2008, she became a trustee of a domestic violence charity.^{[citation needed]} As a councillor, Allan became chairman of a Safer Neighbourhoods Panel with the local police, helped spearhead a graffiti watch scheme, and worked with residents to clean up litter and curb anti-social behaviour. She become a supporter of the Telford Food Bank and has also organised events aimed at encouraging women to start careers in business.^[36]

Allan is married to a stockbroker and has a son and pet vulture. They live in Wandsworth.^[1][11][23]