Allan Bell

Who is Allan Bell?

The Honourable Allan Robert Bell MHK is a Manx politician, who is the current Chief Minister of the Isle of Man, having been elected to that position on 11 October 2011. He was formerly the Minister for Economic Development of the Isle of Man Government and is Member of the House of Keys for Ramsey.

Mr Bell was heavily criticised for his involvement in planning decisions by The Commission of Inquiry into Mount Murray which reported in 2003. They stated : "It was the Minister for Tourism, acting in undesirably close alliance with the developer, who ensured that the proposal received planning approval. He did this by applying unacceptable pressure to officers in a weak planning office" http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/cso/crown/section2part1.pdf

Bell was educated at Ramsey Grammar School. He was involved in banking and clothing retail prior to entering politics. He was elected as an independent Ramsey MHK in the 1984 by election.

Recently, he helped bail the Sefton group out of trouble; much to the dismay of many Islanders whom many feel that the sensible thing to do would be to let the firm fold, and have the assets sold to new; emerging companies that could inject growth and profitability to the Island Assets.