Britain's ruling Conservative party rallied for re-election in 2015 at a party conference on Sunday overshadowed by defections to the eurosceptic UKIP and a ministerial resignation over a sex scandal. Prime Minister David Cameron admitted there had "not been an ideal start" to the gathering in Birmingham, after a lawmaker defected to join the eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party, and a minister stepped down for sending explicit photos.
The defection of lawmaker Mark Reckless to UKIP on the eve of the conference - the second MP to do so in two months - upped pressure on Cameron to harden his stance towards the European Union and immigration. The prime minister told BBC news he would support whatever was in the country's interest. "If I thought that it wasn't in Britain's interests to be in the EU I wouldn't argue for us to be in it," Cameron said. The centre-right Conservatives, who currently govern in a coalition with the smaller Liberal Democrats, risk losing a handful of seats and thousands of votes to UKIP at the May general election - possibly enough to cost them victory.
Cameron has vowed to re-negotiate the terms of Britain's membership of the EU and hold a referendum on whether to leave the bloc by the end of 2017 in a bid to ward off UKIP gains and appease the eurosceptic wing of his party.
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