When David Cameron urges European Union leaders on Thursday to do a deal to keep Britain in the bloc, he will face a riddle that has haunted Conservative prime ministers for three decades: a row with Europe or a row with Eurosceptics at home?
Cameron's bid to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership of the bloc ahead of a referendum he has promised by the end of 2017, has hit the rocks over a demand to make working EU migrants wait four years before getting some benefits.
EU partners call that measure impossible while Conservative opponents of membership have pounced on hints that he may drop it as evidence that the renegotiation is a choreographed sham that will end in a fudged deal early next year.
"If the prime minister is not able to persuade the EU nation states to give us the four-year wait on migrant benefits then it really will be trivial," Steve Baker, a Conservative lawmaker who is campaigning for a British exit, told Reuters.
"My expectation is that by the time we get to February something will be offered which will be presented as a great success, but that it will still be inconsequential."
Baker said he has 136 Conservative lawmakers on his mailing list, indicating that more than a third of Cameron's 331-strong parliamentary party may be toying with the idea of a 'Brexit'. ...
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