Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind has said the Conservatives have benefited from defections to the UK Independence Party.
Following a switch to UKIP party by two former Conservative peers, Sir Malcolm said that ridding the Tories of "divisive elements" will help prevent a return to party infighting over
In an article for this week's House Magazine, he wrote: "If some Europhobes wish to defect to UKIP as a result of the Conservative line on
"Shedding some of these divisive elements may even help the Conservative Party avoid the trouble that bedevilled it in the 1990s.
"UKIP poses no threat to the Conservative Party because people understand that withdrawal from the EU, in an age of market integration and political co-operation, is an utterly reckless and untenable proposition.
"Rather the prism through which to view integration should be defined by a moderate Euroscepticism".
Sir Malcolm, who ran unsuccessfully against David Cameron in the last Conservative leadership contest, went on to praise his leader's approach to the EU.
On Cameron's stalled bid to leave the centre right grouping of parties in the European Parliament he said: "The recent Conservative decision to withdraw from the European People's Party to form, along with the Czech Civic Democrat Party, a new bloc in the European Parliament that will champion the cause of an open Europe, is consistent with our attempt to make Europe more responsive to the needs of its citizens.
"It is, without doubt, an audacious move, but only time will tell if it succeeds."
