A senior eurosceptic Tory has played down the prospect of David Cameron facing a repeat of the internal struggles over Europe that hamstrung John Major in the 1990s.
With only the slimmest of Commons majorities, Mr Cameron faces a tough task keeping backbenchers happy as he seeks a renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with Brussels to put to an in/out referendum by 2017.
Some have already begun setting out their own priorities and parallels have been drawn with the paralysis inflicted on the Major administration by anti-EU rebels opposed to the Maastricht Treaty after his own surprise re-election to Number 10 with a small numerical advantage in 1992.
But David Davis praised the swiftness with which the re-elected Prime Minister met with the chair of the influential 1922 committee Graham Brady in a bid to smooth relations and said he did not anticipate trouble.
He suggested that the priority for MPs from the negotiations would be securing an effective opt-out for the UK from measures considered against the national interest, rather than over immigration.
“Freedom of movement is important but it is not the main one,” said Mr Davis.
“The main one is that we are able to say in future to the Europeans that ‘this is too far for us’. Not a veto but an opt out.”