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The Prime Minister said he was "misinterpreted" after widespread reports claimed he had ruled out allowing members of the government to follow their conscience on the key issue.

And he insisted he would not answer "hypothetical" questions about what the arrangements would be after he has finished his drive to renegotiate the UK's membership terms.

North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson is part of a group of 50 Conservatives pushing for fundamental reform of Britain's role within the EU.

It wants the benefits of trade with Europe but control over domestic lawmaking.

Mr Paterson said Cabinet members should be allowed to campaign on Britain's future in Europe according to their beliefs.

Mr Cameron told a press conference at the end of the G7 summit in Germany : "I have always said what I want is an outcome for Britain that keeps us in a reformed EU. But I have also said we don't know the outcome of these negotiations, which is why I have always said I rule nothing out.

"Therefore it would be wrong to answer hypothetical questions. I know that can be frustrating. I know you want to jump to the end of the process and have all the questions answered now about the end of that process.

"That is not going to be possible. You are going to have to take this stage by stage, step by step and you will get the answers."

Other Shropshire Conservatives say ministers should follow Mr Cameron's wishes following renegotiations with Brussels.

Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, said: "The government's position is well known, that the UK should remain part of the European Union should key reforms be agreed to.

"Thereafter, it is always the duty of the ministers to support the government of the day, this is nothing new."

And Lucy Allan, the newly-elected MP for Telford, said: "It is usual for cabinet members to back the Prime Minister and support Government policy.

"In this case, the Prime Minister is renegotiating our agreement with the EU and ministers are expected to back him on these renegotiations."

Mr Paterson yesterday reissued his call for reform, saying it was important for Britain to be an "independent nation".

And he dismissed concerns over Britain replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights.

Mr Paterson said human rights were already enshrined through common law, and it was a mistake to suggest that Britain had been a "dictatorship" before the Human Rights Act.

He was it was important for Britain to make our "own laws and own regulations in our own parliament".

Mr Cameron denied that the Tories' difficulties over Europe were an echo of the party's 1990s splits.

"I think the Conservative Party is delighted that we have got a renegotiation, reform and referendum agenda. There's complete unity about that, how the manifesto set that out."

He added there was "real unity" behind his plan, which was "right for the country".

"In the end that's what this is about: what is in Britain's national interest. I believe it's in our national interest to try and make changes in the European Union, changes in our membership and then giving the final decision to the British people.

"It will be for them to decide, not one group of politicians or another group of politicians, it will be for the British public to decide."

Mr Cameron said: "What I was saying yesterday was that I don't believe the Government will be a bystander in this. The Government will have a clear view.

"The view I want us to get to is a successful renegotiation, reform the European Union and being able to recommend that Britain should stay in the European Union. In that case, the Government's not going to be a bystander, the Government will have a very clear view."

He refused to be drawn on whether a minister could remain in the Government if he or she disagreed with that "clear view".

"You are asking me a hypothetical question," he said. "We are going to have to take this in stages. There will come a time when we get on to the next stage and that question you ask will merit an answer and at that stage it will get an answer."