“The [gay marriage] Bill could cost us the election…therefore, Prime Minister, for the sake of the wellbeing of the country and the integrity and future success of the party, we urge you not to continue with your policy of re-defining marriage,” it urged.
Last week, Cameron’s defence minister Philip Hammond suggested that the bill was a waste of parliamentary time.
“There is a real sense of anger among many people who are married that any government thinks it has the ability to change the definition of an institution like marriage,” he said during a televised debate.
The vote comes just days after a member of Cameron’s inner circle fiercely denied claims that he had branded grassroot party members as “mad, swivel-eyed loons”.
Party co-chairman Andrew Feldman has strenuously denied Internet rumours linking him with the statement and said he was considering legal action.
Cameron is already under pressure from the right-wing of his party over Europe.
Many party members are concerned about the rise of the anti-European Union UK Independence Party (UKIP) after its unprecedented gains in recent local elections.
That threat prompted around 114 Tory MPs last week to back a motion in parliament expressing regret that the coalition government’s plans for the year contained no guarantee of a referendum on EU membership.
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