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| Cameron Survives Challenge on Europe Policies, but Vote Is Closer Than Expected | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron survived a potentially humiliating challenge to his policies toward the European Union on Wednesday by a closer margin in Parliament than had been forecast, illuminating the depth of dissent within his party over an issue that has divided it for decades. | LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron survived a potentially humiliating challenge to his policies toward the European Union on Wednesday by a closer margin in Parliament than had been forecast, illuminating the depth of dissent within his party over an issue that has divided it for decades. |
| In a parliamentary ballot, 130 lawmakers, most of them from Mr. Cameron’s Conservative Party, voted in favor of a resolution criticizing his handling of a burgeoning crisis over whether Britain should leave the 27-nation European bloc, which is seen as a cornerstone of the world’s economic and political architecture. British analysts had forecast that around 80 legislators would support the resolution. | |
| Mr. Cameron has promised an “in-out” referendum on British membership in the European Union by 2017 if he wins the next election in 2015. He has also pledged to renegotiate Britain’s ties to the body. But many Conservative lawmakers want him to move faster and more decisively, and the ballot measure Wednesday criticized Mr. Cameron for not enshrining his European pledges immediately in law. | |
| Mr. Cameron was not in Parliament for the vote on Wednesday evening because he was winding up a scheduled three-day visit to the United States with a debate on global issues of poverty and development at the United Nations. | Mr. Cameron was not in Parliament for the vote on Wednesday evening because he was winding up a scheduled three-day visit to the United States with a debate on global issues of poverty and development at the United Nations. |
| Speaking in New York, Mr. Cameron sought to play down the impact of the vote, according to the Press Association news agency. “I don’t think people can read in anything really to the scale of that free vote, not least because only the Conservative Party has a very clear position and a very clear policy about what needs to happen in Europe,” he said. | Speaking in New York, Mr. Cameron sought to play down the impact of the vote, according to the Press Association news agency. “I don’t think people can read in anything really to the scale of that free vote, not least because only the Conservative Party has a very clear position and a very clear policy about what needs to happen in Europe,” he said. |
| The rebellion among Conservative lawmakers nonetheless highlighted the party’s vulnerability to decades of corrosive debate about its ties to a European bloc that British skeptics depict as a monstrous superstate devouring British sovereignty. | The rebellion among Conservative lawmakers nonetheless highlighted the party’s vulnerability to decades of corrosive debate about its ties to a European bloc that British skeptics depict as a monstrous superstate devouring British sovereignty. |
| Even though Conservatives know how internal fights over Europe damaged their governments in the 1990s, the issue refuses to go away, leaving Mr. Cameron trapped between those in his party who want to move quickly to leave the union and his junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, who want Britain to stay in. | |
| The rebels’ vote was largely symbolic. Though they will now try to promote a bill for a referendum, it will have almost no chance of passing Parliament without the official support of the government. | |
| The debate has enabled opposition politicians to argue that Mr. Cameron has lost control of his party over the issue, just as the last Conservative prime minister, John Major, did in the 1990s. They argue that Conservative critics of the European Union are determined to quit the bloc and therefore will not be satisfied by any concessions short of an exit. | The debate has enabled opposition politicians to argue that Mr. Cameron has lost control of his party over the issue, just as the last Conservative prime minister, John Major, did in the 1990s. They argue that Conservative critics of the European Union are determined to quit the bloc and therefore will not be satisfied by any concessions short of an exit. |
| But Mr. Cameron rejected the charge. | But Mr. Cameron rejected the charge. |
| “When the dust settles on this, what people will see is one party, the Conservative Party, offering this very clear, very compelling choice in the national interest, reforming the E.U., changing Britain’s relationship with it and giving people the chance of an in-out referendum,” he said. | “When the dust settles on this, what people will see is one party, the Conservative Party, offering this very clear, very compelling choice in the national interest, reforming the E.U., changing Britain’s relationship with it and giving people the chance of an in-out referendum,” he said. |
Stephen Castle reported from London, and Alan Cowell from Paris. | Stephen Castle reported from London, and Alan Cowell from Paris. |