THE chairman of the Anglo Irish Parliamentary Body, Mr Peter Temple Morris, last night survived unchallenged after his Leominster Conservative party constituency's annual meeting.
The Tory MP said afterwards "I am a Conservative of many years standing. I come from a Conservative family and I intend to remain a Conservative This as far as I am concerned, is the end of the affair."
His Leominster association was infuriated by a Dublin interview in which he said if he was starting now in politics he would rather join Labour or the Liberal Democrats.
The 58 year old MP addressed 200 of his constituency members and took a question and answer session at the local party's annual meeting this evening in a hotel in the centre of Leominster, Shropshire.
Mr Temple Morris said afterwards "Now we want to come together to put this behind us and to get on with the job..."
He admitted facing some opposition during the meeting but no vote of confidence was taken.
"I have some old friends and they have always held strong views, contrary to some aspects of my opinion, particularly over the time of Mrs Thatcher," he said.
He suggested recent press reports highlighting his interview in Dublin's Sunday Business Post was part of an orchestrated campaign because of his opinion of the Irish situation.
He said "What the Daily Telegraph has done is to get my en tics somewhat excited but I am hoping that tonight, and we are only dealing with a minority, will have enabled them to say their points and get it off their chest.
"It has to do with Ireland. I am behind John Major completely but I had urged pace and momentum during the process and I have not taken a sufficiently nationalist view to satisfy the Daily Telegraph."
He said he had been "highly selectively quoted" after the interview with the Sunday Business Post.
"There are some things there that I should not have said," he said. "I should have realised when you are abroad sometimes you are a little bit more relaxed. If I had my choice today and I could remain a one nation Conservative I would do so. I would be in the Conservative party anyway."