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Richard Allan, Baron Allan of Hallam

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Richard Allan
Member of Parliament
for Sheffield Hallam
In office
1 May 1997 – 5 May 2005
Preceded byIrvine Patnick
Succeeded byNick Clegg
Personal details
Born (1966-02-11) 11 February 1966 (age 58)
Sheffield
NationalityBritish
Political partyLiberal Democrats
SpouseLouise Netley
Alma materPembroke College, Cambridge, University of the West of England

Richard Beechcroft Allan (born 11 February 1966 in Sheffield) is the former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam from the general election of Thursday 2 May 1997 until the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April 2005.

Early life

He went to the independent Oundle School in north-east Northamptonshire. He studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and gained a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology in 1988. From Bristol Polytechnic, he gained an MSc in Information Technology in 1990. He was a field archaeologist in Britain, France and the Netherlands from 1984-5, and in Ecuador from 1988-9. He was a computer manager at Avon FHSA from 1991-7.

Parliamentary career

In 1997, he unseated Irvine Patnick of the Conservative Party achieving a majority of 8,221 with a swing of 15.3%. In 2001, he was re-elected with an increased majority of 9,347. During his tenure, Allan held various committee seats, including the Chair of the House of Commons Information Select Committee and a seat on the House of Commons Liaison Select Committee. Richard Allan was the founding chairman of the Parthenon 2004 campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

Allan did not seek reelection at the 2005 general election. He was succeeded by fellow Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg (majority 8,682), for whom he acted as campaign manager. He is now employed as a lobbyist by Facebook[1]; previously he was Head of Government Affairs for Cisco Systems UK. He is also a visiting fellow of the Oxford Internet Institute and deputy chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

In May 2010 it was announced that he would be entering the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat Peer[2].

Personal life

He married Louise Netley on 25 May 1991 in Bath. They have since separated and Allan has two daughters with his current partner.[3]

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam
1997–2005
Succeeded by