It is not the first time that Sir Alex Allan, one of Whitehall’s more colourful characters, has found himself in the news. Sir Alex, then working at the Treasury, dreamt up the unusual way of commuting from his home in Putney, south-west London, with a neighbour who was a news photographer. Sir Alex, now 69 and latterly Boris Johnson’s standards tsar, began his Whitehall career in 1973, working in Customs and Excise and the Treasury. Sir Alex, pictured in cycling gear, also helped mastermind the handover of power to Tony Blair after Labour’s 1997 election victory, then was appointed British High Commissioner to Australia for two years. But Scotland Yard said the drama was ‘non-suspicious’ and Sir Alex was back at work the next year.

Source: Daily Mail November 20, 2020 22:53 UTC