Right wing retreats into eurosceptic comfort zone

A collection of essays, called The Blue Book, edited by Mr Cameron’s former leadership rival David Davis, will today be published, pushing for a more right-wing agenda.

The demands have raised the spectre of Thatcherism again and go against Mr Cameron’s attempts to detoxify the party to make it more acceptable in places like Scotland where it lost support in the 1980s.

The complaints from the Tory right come despite the fact that a YouGov poll last night suggested that Mr Cameron is perceived as right-wing by the same degree as Labour leader Ed Miliband is perceived as left-wing.

In a chapter in The Blue Book on the constitution, MP Geoffrey Cox warned that “parliamentary sovereignty is dead” and bemoans devolution, although he admits “it cannot be reversed”.

However, his fire was mostly directed at the Human Rights Act which, he said, has led to judges making decisions which “are increasingly doctrinal and remote from the common instincts of the British people”.

Mr Cox adds: “We should negotiate to withdraw from the right of individual petition to the European Court of Human Rights, and in any event enact a new British bill of rights.”

The issue is seen as one of the major dividing lines in the coalition between the Tories and Lib Dems, with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg saying that the Human Rights Act is “here to stay” at the Lib Dem conference two weeks ago.

While the Tory leadership appeared to be willing to give way on human rights, the Prime Minister dug in over membership of the EU.

Conservatives are increasingly questioning whether Britain should remain part of the EU, with efforts by the European Commission to tax the city of London to bail out eurozone countries.

Mr Cameron said: “I don’t want Britain to leave the EU. I think it’s the wrong answer for Britain.”