David Cameron’s new allies in Europe are set to include a homophobic Polish party, Czechs who have just passed the Lisbon Treaty and Nazi-supporting Latvians. A senior MEP confirmed yesterday that the Conservatives had signed up pledges from the requisite seven countries to form a new group in the European Parliament after next month’s elections.

But the eccentric behaviour of some of their new political bedfellows has brought warnings from some of Mr Cameron’s own MEPs that his move to set up a new political force is a mistake. While Poland’s Law and Justice Party has been criticised for its opposition to gay rights, the biggest risk seems to be For Fatherland and Freedom, a Latvian right-wing party which is also homophobic and has MPs who openly celebrate the country’s Waffen SS veterans.

Geoffrey Van Orden, an MEP who has helped to recruit the Conservatives’ new partners, said that Mr Cameron’s main allies will be the Czech Civic Democrats and Poland’s Law and Justice, founded by the Kaczynski twins — Lech, the President, and Jaroslav, the former Prime Minister. Jaroslav has warned that homosexuality will cause the “downfall of civilisation”, while a fellow Law and Justice MP said that Barack Obama’s victory would mean “the end of the civilisation of the white man”.

Speaking to a Brussels website, Mr Van Orden said: “I am confident we will have sufficient numbers of suitable partners with the prospect of more joining us after the election. We are well on track although it is up to individual parties to say whether they have joined.

“At the end of the day, I expect us to have between 55 and 65 members and to be the fourth biggest group in parliament.”

Mr Van Orden refused to confirm the other members but Conservative sources said that they included For Fatherland and Freedom, a staunch nationalist party in Latvia. Some of its MPs are backers of the controversial annual ceremony every March to honour the Latvians who fought for the Nazis in the Waffen SS against the Communists in the Second World War.The new group will be called the European Conservatives and Reformists. The other founder members, the Czech ODS, recently passed the Lisbon Treaty despite Mr Cameron’s policy of holding a referendum on it if it remains unratified somewhere in Europe.

The Times understands that others lined up for the new group include the List Dedecker, a right-wing Flemish party in Belgium which includes MPs who have defected from the hard right Flemish Block separatist party, as well as Order, Law and Justice, a tiny Bulgarian party.

Mr Cameron made leaving the main federalist conservative grouping, the European People’s Party, one of the key policies of his leadership campaign and had to endure thinly-veiled criticism at the weekend from German Chancellor Angela Merkel for pulling out.

The move has also been openly attacked by two of his own MEPs, with Caroline Jackson labelling Mr Cameron “dotty” and “pathetic” for pulling the Conservatives out of the EPP, while Christopher Beazley called it a serious mistake.

Mrs Jackson added: “It will leave David Cameron and William Hague very isolated because it will leave bad blood with Christian Democrat parties throughout Europe. It is a stupid, stupid policy.”

A Conservative spokesman said: “Politics in the European Parliament needs shaking up. The federalist vision is of an EU that takes ever more powers from Europe’s countries. A voice is required for a different vision — of a modern, open, flexible Europe. We are establishing a new group in the European Parliament to champion that view.”

“We will announce the new group after the European elections and in the meantime we do not intend to comment on potential allies.”

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