Defection and sex scandal hit UK Conservatives ahead of annual meeting
'Not an ideal start' to annual meeting, British PM admits as he aims to rally his party for election
British Prime Minister David Cameron is aiming to rally his Conservatives for victory at next year's general election at their annual conference on Sunday, with the party reeling from a defection and a sex scandal.
Cameron admitted it had "not been an ideal start" to the gathering in Birmingham, after one lawmaker left the day before to join the eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party, then a junior minister quit after being caught out sending an explicit photograph of himself.
The centre-right Conservatives risk losing a handful of seats and thousands of votes to Ukip at the May general election - possibly enough to cost them victory.
Cameron said the defection of MP Mark Reckless to Ukip was "frustrating... counter-productive and rather senseless". He said the aims Reckless claimed to be pursuing were achievable only by a Conservative government.
The conference comes a week before a by-election which could see Ukip land its first seat in the House of Commons at the Conservatives' expense.
Douglas Carswell, the first Tory MP who switched sides to Ukip, is expected to be re-elected in the coastal town of Clacton, southeast England, on October 9, threatening a major embarrassment for Cameron.