British PM suffers rebellion over Europe

LONDON: David Cameron has suffered the largest parliamentary rebellion of his premiership as 79 Conservative MPs defied him to vote in favour of a referendum on Britain's relationship with Europe.

Cameron's government won the House of Commons vote late Monday by 483 votes to 111 due to support from the Liberal Democrats -- the Tories' euro-friendly junior coalition partners -- and the main opposition Labour Party.

But the Tory eurosceptic wing ignored Cameron's personal plea that now was not the time for a referendum because of the debt crisis engulfing the eurozone, in the biggest show of internal dissent in his 18-month premiership.

Official figures show 79 of the Conservative party's 305 lawmakers voted against the government on Monday night with two abstaining, in the biggest rebellion over Europe in the history of the party of Margaret Thatcher.

A spokesman repeated the premier's argument that Britain benefited hugely from being in the EU, adding that he was determined to bring about "fundamental reform" in the 27-nation bloc.

But Labour leader Ed Miliband described Monday's result as "a humiliation for the PM", adding it confirmed the Tories were "more interested in fighting each other than fighting for Britain."