After vote loss, Britain's Cameron seen wooing right wing

LONDON (REUTERS) - New policies floated on Sunday suggest Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron could respond to a mid-term election defeat by seeking to win back right-wing voters, despite a pledge not to lurch to the right.

Mr Cameron's Conservatives were beaten into a humiliating third place on Thursday in a vote for the vacant parliamentary seat of Eastleigh by the right-wing, anti-European Union UK Independence Party (UKIP). The seat was won by Cameron's pro-EU, centre-left junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.

Conservatives fear that if Mr Cameron does not shore up his right-wing base, UKIP could split their vote and stop them from winning a majority at the next general election in 2015.

The result piled pressure on Mr Cameron from party members who want him to ditch policies such as legalising gay marriage and promoting clean energy, and focus on traditional Conservative themes such as tax cuts and fighting Britain's corner in Europe.