Beginnings Allen was elected as a member of
St Albans City Council in 1920 and served until 1923. but never fought the seat.
Leicester East by-election Allen did not contest St Albans because he was selected instead to stand as Liberal candidate at a
by-election in
Leicester East in March 1922. The election was caused by the appointment of the Coalition Liberal
Member of Parliament Sir Gordon Hewart as
Lord Chief Justice of England. As result Hewart took a seat in the
House of Lords. Allen stood as an Independent
Asquithian Liberal in a three-cornered contest with the
Labour Party and a Coalition Liberal. The anti-socialist vote thus split, Labour's
Alderman George Banton was elected with over 50% of the poll.
The General Election of 1922 The
1922 general election followed a few months later in November and this time Allen was chosen to fight in
Leicester South. In a straight fight with the
Conservative Party he narrowly missed being elected, the majority of his opponent, William Reynolds, being only 109 (or 0.4% of the vote).
The General Elections of 1923 and 1924 However, Allen was successful at South Leicester in the
1923 general election. Again facing Reynolds in a straight fight he achieved a majority of 4,018 votes. He only served as the MP for a year though, as in
1924 general election the
Labour Party fielded a candidate. This had the effect of splitting the anti-Tory vote and Allen fell to the bottom of the poll, the Tory
Charles Waterhouse re-gaining the seat for his party. Allen did not stand as a candidate at the
1931 general election but made one last attempt to re-enter Parliament in
1935. He was selected to fight the seat of
Penryn and Falmouth in
Cornwall which had been Liberal in 1923 and 1929 but which had been gained for the Conservatives by
Maurice Petherick at the 1931 election. In a three-cornered contest the seat was retained by Petherick (39% of the vote) with the Labour candidate and historian
A.L.Rowse coming second (32%) and Allen in third (28%). ==Other appointments and honours==