The 2010 parliamentary intake of Conservative members of Parliament (MPs) was the most Euroskeptic ever elected to the House of Commons.
The range of views on Europe within the Conservative Party is more narrowly confined to the Euroskeptic end of the spectrum than in any previous parliament.
Only 50 of the Conservatives' 305 MPs are members of the parliamentary party's Europhile group, Mainstream European. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron shares the Euroskeptic instincts of the majority within his party. Although the prime minister does not want to see Britain leave the European Union, he is committed to repatriating powers from Brussels. Why then is the Conservative Party yet again tearing itself apart over the issue of Europe?