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  Ukip surge could put David Cameron at risk, Tories warn
  
  Party likely to deprive Tories of victory in many seats, fuelling fears about their prospects in 2015
  
  David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party could come under renewed threat if the UK
  
  Independence Party performs strongly in next week's local elections, senior Tories warned today.
  
  The Tory high command has insisted that the Prime Minister has enough credit in the bank to survive
  
  expected losses of more than 300 council seats on Thursday.
  
  However, senior Tory MPs denied that a formal challenge to Mr Cameron before the 2015 general
  
  election had been ruled out. "It all depends on how Ukip does next week," one told The Independent.
  
  "If Ukip does well, all bets are off."
  
  Conservative chiefs argue that the Tory family closed ranks after Margaret Thatcher's death and that
  
  party spirits have been raised after Britain avoided a "triple dip" recession and Mr Cameron gave MPs
  
  a bigger role in policy-making in a shake-up of the Downing Street machine.
  
  But they acknowledge the "wildcard" in next week's contests will be the impact of Ukip, which is
  
  standing in more than 70 per cent of the 2,400 local authority seats up for grabs.

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