David Cameron arrived in Germany for talks with Angela Merkel on Friday evening as his Conservative allies planned a secret deal with German Eurosceptics backing his bid to loosen Britain's European Union membership.
Talks between the Tories and the new Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD), an anti-euro party, came to light as the Prime Minister and his family flew to Germany as the personal guests of the Chancellor at the castle of Meseberg, her country retreat.
The invitation for Mr Cameron to bring his wife Samantha and his children, Nancy, nine, Elwen, seven, and Florence, two, to stay in the elegant 18th century castle north of Berlin was intended to underline that the visit was a special courtesy, "perhaps not just pure routine".
"It is a meeting linked to numerous, highly intensive, good discussions that the Chancellor has had with Prime Minister Cameron," her spokesman said.
Mr Cameron's aides admit that winning Mrs Merkel's support will be vital to his attempts to negotiate a looser British EU membership deal, a new settlement he has promised to put to a referendum by 2017.
But The Daily Telegraph can reveal despite the personal warmth between Mr Cameron and Chancellor Merkel, the Conservatives are negotiating a secret alliance behind her back with Eurosceptic rivals to her Christian Democrats ahead of national elections this year and European polls in 2014.
But The Daily Telegraph can reveal despite the personal warmth between Mr Cameron and Chancellor Merkel, the Conservatives are negotiating a secret alliance behind her back with Eurosceptic rivals to her Christian Democrats ahead of national elections this year and European polls in 2014.
Angela Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer welcome David Cameron and his wife Samantha (AFP)
"We have made contact with the AfD but there is no formal agreement. Obviously it's a bit sensitive. We don't want Merkel complaining to Cameron," said a senior Conservative source.
The AfD, or "Alternative for Germany", party calls for the EU's single currency to be dissolved and has pledged support for Mr Cameron in its manifesto published ahead of a founding conference this weekend.
"We support David Cameronﾒs position of slimming down the EU through greater competition and self-reliance," the manifesto said.
The German Chancellor would come under pressure to back Britain's campaign to reduce EU powers if the AfD makes an electoral breakthrough. The party is pinning its hopes on European elections next year.
A poll published last weekend revealed the scale of the challenge that AfD poses to Germanyﾒs pro-EU political establishment with seven per cent saying they would "definitely" vote for the new party, while a further 17pc said they would consider voting for it.
The secret talks between the Tories, the AfD and Bavaria's Eurosceptic Free Voters party are being carried out under the auspices of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), a group of centre-right MEPs founded by Mr Cameron in a split from the European People's Party (EPP).
Chancellor Merkel was angered by the Conservative move to leave the pro-federalist EPP, which her Christian Democrats MEPs lead in the European Parliamentand the emergence of the ECR to challenge her in Germany in alliance with the AfD would be seen as a major betrayal by Mr Cameron.
The German leader and her Christian Democrats have tried hard to accommodate the Prime Ministerﾒs call in January for a new settlement with the EU despite being dismayed by his pledge put Britain's reshaped membership to an in-or-out referendum by the end of 2017.
Michael Meister, deputy parliamentary chairman of Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, struck a conciliatory note ahead of the meeting by saying that Germany was ready to talk about about moving some powers back into the hands of member states.
"We want to unify Europe and we have to do it together, and I think there are a lot of common ideas with the British side and the German side on it," he told the BBC. "I think we are open for arguments."
"We have made contact with the AfD but there is no formal agreement. Obviously it's a bit sensitive. We don't want Merkel complaining to Cameron," said a senior Conservative source.
The AfD, or "Alternative for Germany", party calls for the EU's single currency to be dissolved and has pledged support for Mr Cameron in its manifesto published ahead of a founding conference this weekend.
"We support David Cameronﾒs position of slimming down the EU through greater competition and self-reliance," the manifesto said.
The German Chancellor would come under pressure to back Britain's campaign to reduce EU powers if the AfD makes an electoral breakthrough. The party is pinning its hopes on European elections next year.
A poll published last weekend revealed the scale of the challenge that AfD poses to Germanyﾒs pro-EU political establishment with seven per cent saying they would "definitely" vote for the new party, while a further 17pc said they would consider voting for it.
The secret talks between the Tories, the AfD and Bavaria's Eurosceptic Free Voters party are being carried out under the auspices of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), a group of centre-right MEPs founded by Mr Cameron in a split from the European People's Party (EPP).
Chancellor Merkel was angered by the Conservative move to leave the pro-federalist EPP, which her Christian Democrats MEPs lead in the European Parliamentand the emergence of the ECR to challenge her in Germany in alliance with the AfD would be seen as a major betrayal by Mr Cameron.
The German leader and her Christian Democrats have tried hard to accommodate the Prime Ministerﾒs call in January for a new settlement with the EU despite being dismayed by his pledge put Britain's reshaped membership to an in-or-out referendum by the end of 2017.
Michael Meister, deputy parliamentary chairman of Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, struck a conciliatory note ahead of the meeting by saying that Germany was ready to talk about about moving some powers back into the hands of member states.
"We want to unify Europe and we have to do it together, and I think there are a lot of common ideas with the British side and the German side on it," he told the BBC. "I think we are open for arguments."
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