The Prime Minister won his first Commons battle to legalise same-sex marriage by a margin of 400 votes to 175.
But his victory came at the cost of a major split in the Conservative Party, with more than half of his MPs refusing to back him.
Despite his 11th-hour appeal for support, only around 130 of the 303 Conservative MPs last night joined Mr Cameron in voting for gay marriage. 139 voted against and 30 others abstained.
Among the Tories voting against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill were several ministers, including two Cabinet members: Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, and David Jones, the Welsh secretary.
Other ministers included David Lidington, the Europe minister, Andrew Robathan and Mark Francois from the Ministry of Defence, and Jeremy Wright, a justice minister.
Among the ministers who abstained were Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, and Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General.
Tory opponents later accused Mr Cameron of dividing the party and vowed further parliamentary resistance to the controversial changes. » | James Kirkup, Tim Ross and Peter Dominiczak | Tuesday, February 05, 2013
