Tory Eurosceptics threaten 'all-out war' over Brussels.

Why am I not remotely surprised by this?

David Cameron has been given an 18-month deadline by a powerful band of Eurosceptic Tory MPs to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Brussels or face an "all-out war" for a referendum, it emerged yesterday.

This came after Cameron said he would include the promise of a referendum in the Tory party's 2015 election manifesto should the EU "move in the wrong direction".

This was the cue for all out nuttiness amongst the Conservatives.

The MP said: "I don't think a promise of a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU in more than five years will sit very well. He [Cameron] needs to make progress, within the first 18 months of his premiership. If he does, it will be his crowning glory, but if he doesn't, it will be a thorn in his side."

Another Eurosceptic backbencher said: "We have agreed to keep quiet on this before the election, but if things do not start happening in the first year or so, there will be all-out war for a referendum."

The warning from the band of Conservative MPs steps up the pressure on the Tory leader after the resignation of two Tory MEPs, Daniel Hannan and Roger Helmer, from the party's frontbench in the European Parliament. The issue threatens to spoil Mr Cameron's honeymoon as Prime Minister if he wins next spring.

Some 47 Tory MPs, including a handful of shadow ministers, signed a Commons motion last month that "insists that the Prime Minister rejects the [Lisbon] Reform Treaty ... and holds a referendum before or after ratification". Mr Helmer and Mr Hannan are both members of the Better Off Out group which wants the UK to withdraw from the EU. There are also five Tory MPs and eight Conservative peers who are members of the group.

So, they agree to keep quiet on this subject before the election, as they know fine well that parties which are as split as they are on this subject are rarely elected, but they will declare outright war on Cameron as soon as their feet are comfortably under the cabinet table.

Cameron has made a great play out of the fact that he has "changed" the Tory party from the nasty party of old into it's new 21st century facade. But look behind that facade and one finds that they haven't really changed at all.

The same divisions which destroyed Thatcher and Major remain. They still have this little Englander xenophobic obsession with Europe which we watched tear them apart during the eighties and nineties.

This is a party which, despite David Cameron's PR gloss, is still at war with itself. They should actually be unelectable. But the main players are agreeing to hide how split they are until the election is over.

And, once elected, we are going to witness the same old boring fights which plagued John Major.

These people are deranged and so very, very tedious. The fact that they are going to walk in come the next election is actually scary.

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Tags: Cameron, Tories, Europe, Hannan, Eurosceptics