Allason to explain why he did not vote

was disclosed last night.

It is understood Mr Allason had offered to attend last night's routine

meeting of the association's finance and general purposes committee --

held at a secret location -- but was told it would have been

inappropriate.

Mr Allason's conduct was discussed during the meeting and afterwards

association chairman Squadron Leader Johnny Johnson said the committee

noted ''with approval'' Mr Allason's suggestion that he addressed the

next regular meeting of the executive council in September.

The Tories will not now face a potentially disastrous by-election in

Torbay (majority 5787) following the discipline imposed yesterday on Mr

Allason, alias spy-writer Nigel West, for failing to support the

survival of the Government. In Tory terms, Mr Allason is now a

''stateless person'' at least until next spring.

Mr Allason told the Chief Whip, Mr Richard Ryder, yesterday that he

wants to remain an MP and dropped all threats to resign and create a

by-election in a seat the Government would lose. He apologised for his

conduct.

He was the only Tory MP to fail to vote on a matter that could have

brought about an immediate General Election.

Yesterday, he was called in by Mr Ryder to be told the precise terms

on which he will be allowed to regain the position of an official Tory

MP. Until he has proved himself, the whip will be withdrawn, which means

that he cannot be re-selected as an official Tory candidate.

Over the next nine months, the Torbay Tory association will monitor

his performance as a constituency MP. The Government whips will carry

out the same exercise on his performance in the Commons.

About next spring, the Government and the Torbay local party will

confer as to whether the handsome young backbencher, whose declared

hobby is ''sailing close to the wind'', can be brought back into the

fold.

The disciplining of Mr Allason evidenced a subsidiary piece of

bluff-calling by the Prime Minister. Tomorrow, he expects a thumping

defeat in the Christchurch, Dorset, by-election, where the Liberal

Democrat candidate is set to take the 15th strongest Tory seat. If Mr

Allason had decided to resign his seat in Torbay rather than accept the

withdrawal of the whip, another by-election disaster would have followed

for Mr Major.

The resolution of the issue yesterday, when the long summer recess

began, provides the Prime Minister with a warning to other Tory MPs that

when they return to Parliament in autumn they must be more disciplined

-- or face the consequences.