Rupert William Simon Allason is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was Conservative Party member of Parliament for Torbay in Devon, until the landslide 1997 general election, when he lost his seat by a margin of 12 votes to Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders.
He writes books on the subject of espionage under the pseudonym Nigel West.
In 1998 he sued BBC Worldwide and Hat Trick Productions for libel for producing a book, Have I Got 1997 For You based on the satirical TV series Have I Got News For You, in which he was described as a "conniving little shit". He lost the case, which, as a subsequent episode of the programme pointed out, means that he is the only person in the UK who can be called a "conniving little shit" without fear of being sued (successfully) for libel.
Last updated: 08-10-2005 03:42:08