British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday refused to rule out recommending a British exit from the European Union referendum, stressing that he will campaign over the issue unless other EU leaders grant him the concessions he wants.

Cameron told the annual gathering of the Conservative Party in Manchester that his renegotiation of Britain's ties with the European Union was a difficult task to do.

“I’m confident I’ve got the right strategy, the right plans, the right team to deliver it,” he said. “I’ve just got to get on with it ... it’s bloody hard work,” he has been quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Cameron said he was “calmly and rationally” attempting to persuade European counterparts to back his drive for reform ahead of an in/out referendum on the UK’s EU membership.

The British premier, however, indicated that he will not push for an early vote on whether to sever ties with Brussels, emphasizing that there was “plenty of time” for European counterparts to consider his demands before the deadline of holding a public vote by the end of 2017.

Cameron insisted that European leaders were aware of the stakes involved and that the UK would be prepared to vote to leave if he could not secure reforms.

“I think they know that this is a serious issue, a serious negotiation,” he said. “They know that this is an in-out referendum”.

The prime minister said people should not think that his approach to the negotiations meant he was not making headway.

“Just because I haven’t been doing it with a gun held to my head. I’ve calmly gone round every European capital. Because I’ve done it calmly and rationally, don’t mistake that for a lack of real zeal in fixing what’s wrong,” the Guardian quoted the prime minister as saying.

He further again insisted he believed the UK should remain in a reformed EU, but stressed: “I’ve always said if we don’t get those things that we are asking for I rule nothing out and I am very serious about that.”

Ian Williams, a senior analyst at the UK-based think-tank Foreign Policy in Focus, has told Press TV that Cameron appears to be pursuing socialist ambitions.

“Ironically, the concessions that Cameron wants are precisely the issues that the new Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn says are the sort of tie-breaker,” said Williams. “Without those he sees no particular reason to stay in Europe”.

He said Cameron’s remarks show that the unions and the socialists in Britain have changed their minds since their first negotiations when they opposed the EU.

Williams says Cameron is playing a dangerous game over his EU exit strategy given that there are many who have opposing opinions toward this issue.

“There are lots of people who genuinely want to get out of the European Union,” he told Press TV’s UK Desk in an exclusive interview.

“Also there are lots of people – including many of the businesses that fund the Conservative Party – who are horrified at the prospects of the damage to the British economy and their businesses from pulling out of the European Union,” Williams added.