Gay marriage in Britain tears apart conservatives

British Prime Minister David Cameron may rue the day he supported gay marriage.

Mr. Cameron is facing a deepening rift in his own conservative party as nearly 40 percent of the party’s 303 lawmakers voted in favor of an amendment that gives marriage registrars the right to refuse same-sex unions.

The amendment didn’t pass, Thomson Reuters reported. But the message is clear: Mr. Cameron’s struggle to unite his conservative base on gay marriage is far from ended.

Coupled with Mr. Cameron’s other legislative failures — namely, his inability to push forward his visions of Britain’s future role with the European Union — political analysts see his future as shaky. Mr. Cameron very well could lose re-election in 2015, despite an economy that seems to be on the rebound, Thomson Reuters reported.

“It’s a perfect political storm,” said Iain Dale, a gay radio host and conservative blogger, in the Reuters report. “It couldn’t have come at a worse time for Cameron.”