Allan has extensive experience across regional, national and European policy making. Following the Mayoral election of 2017, Allan was asked by the newly elected Mayor, Andy Street CBE, to join his team as Senior Policy Adviser at the West Midlands Combined Authority. In the Mayor’s office, Allan has a broad remit across external engagement with the business community, the higher education sector and includes housing, skills, transport, the Commonwealth Games and others within his policy areas.
Allan was elected to Coventry City Council in 2008 and served as a City Councillor until May 2021, when he stood down after 13 years, 7 of which he served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group and he lead various portfolios since joining the Shadow Cabinet in 2010. He was a long-serving member of the Planning Committee, Licensing Committee and Ethics Committee, and led a number of high profile campaigns as a City Councillor. He was also a member of the Association Finance Board at Conservative Party HQ.
He has previously worked as a political adviser to the Chief Whip of the Conservative Delegation of MEPs in the UK, Brussels and Strasbourg, and as Head of Office for a Member of Parliament and Government Minister. His previous positions include business relations at Rolls-Royce and as Public Affairs Adviser at Cadent.
Allan has held a variety of Non-Executive Directorships including at Whitefriars Housing, part of the WM Housing Group, one of the region’s largest not-for-profit social housing businesses. He has also served on the Board at the Bond’s Hospital Estate Charity in Coventry and spent five years on the Board of Trustees at the Coventry and Migrant Refugee Centre.
He is currently Chair of the Advisory Board at CareWeShare; he is a member of the board at the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business and is Senior Counsel at CalComms, a public affairs and communications agency based in London. He advises a number of CEOs and businesses on their engagement with local and national government. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.