Alex Allan

Sir Alex Allan    (Civil servant)
Born	Alexander Claud Stuart Allan 9 February 1951
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Harrow School, Cambridge University, University College London
Relatives	Robert Allan (Baron Allan of Kilmahew)
Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests In office November 2011 - 20 November 2020  Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee In office 15 November 2007 - 2011  Clerk of the Crown in Chancery  In office 1 August 2004 - 15 November 2007  British High Commissioner to Australia In office 1 September 1997 - 31 January 1999  Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister In office 1992 - 1997 Succeeded by John Holmes (British diplomat)

Sir Alex 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 between 2007 and 2011.

Having spent nine years as the Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests, Sir Alex Allan tendered his resignation to Boris Johnson in November 2020. Allan's resignation on Friday 20 November came in the wake of his findings, based on a Cabinet Office inquiry, concluding that the approach of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, “amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying” – noting instances of shouting and swearing – and deciding that she had therefore breached the ministerial code, even if unintentionally.

It might only have been two sentences long and dressed in formal language, but Sir Alex Allan’s resignation statement made his feelings abundantly clear:

“I recognise that it is for the Prime Minister to make a judgment on whether actions by a minister amount to a breach of the ministerial code,” said the veteran civil servant – who helped oversee MI5, MI6 and GCHQ in his former role as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee – adding: “But I feel that it is right that I should now resign from my position as the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on the code.”

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