The Biography

Richard Beecroft Allan, Baron Allan of Hallam is a British politician and life peer. He was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam from 1997 to 2005. From June 2009 to September 2019 Allan was employed by Facebook as Director of Policy in Europe, responsible for representing the company and lobbying EU governments on matters of concern to it. He was previously Head of Government Affairs for Cisco Systems UK. Allan has given various interviews responding to media concerns about Facebook, and in January 2012 he gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on Facebook's attitude to malicious posting and to privacy. He was made a life peer in the 2010 Dissolution Honours.