Karen Allen was formally adopted by South Shields Conservative Association in February 2009. Born and raised in South Shields - as have generations of her family - she said "I am thrilled to have been selected to fight my hometown against incumbent MP and Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. It means a great deal to me to have the opportunity to fight a seat where the issues of the town and the people are very important to me. I have seen first hand the problems of the region and it makes me angry and extremely disappointed to see unemployment soaring. Labour has taken for granted the support of the North East. I will make it my priority to campaign on the issues of unemployment and lack of investment because the people of South Shields deserve their voice to be heard."

Karen went to school at Harton Comprehensive School in South Shields and studied A Levels at Central Newcastle High School in Jesmond. Before taking up a place at University she spent six months working as a TEFL teacher in Moscow and then three months as a farmhand in Norway.

She studied a BA(Hons) in English Literature at Queen Mary, University of London and upon graduation went to the City and found work at a Lloyd’s Insurance Brokerage. She is currently employed as a Director at Tower Perrin a Global Reinsurance Brokerage where she places Speciality Casualty programs in North America.

She has been involved in the Conservative Party on a local level for a number of years and serves on the Executive of the pressure group Conservative Way Forward (CWF) where Lady Thatcher is the President and Vice Presidents include William Hague, Liam Fox and David Davis. She also served nationally on the Conservative Future Executive (the youth wing of the Party).

Karen spends as much time as possible in the North East and is very much looking forward to spending more time in the region.

Karens blog can be found here and her website can be found here

Karen pictured below with George Smith (President) and Tony Dailly(Chairman)