It's 1992 all over again for David Cameron's Conservatives

David Cameron was euphoric: addressing party workers in the afterglow of his election victory at his campaign headquarters, he drew comparisons with the "amazing victory" the Tories enjoyed under John Major in 1992.

With the Labour opposition routed and the promise of a parliamentary boundary review to further strengthen the Tory position, Mr Cameron and his party had much to celebrate.

But Mr Cameron also knows the perils of running a Conservative government with a wafer thin majority: he saw at first hand how the joy of John Major's surprise election win in 1992 quickly turned sour.

Some Tory MPs fear history could repeat itself unless the Conservative party displays more discipline than in recent years, especially with a potentially divisive EU referendum in prospect by 2017.

Mr Cameron was an adviser to John Major at that election, when support for Labour evaporated on polling day and the Conservative prime minister unexpectedly found himself back at Number 10.

Later as a special adviser to Norman Lamont, Mr Cameron saw the Major government's 21-seat Tory majority start to evaporate against a backdrop of feuding over Europe and a muscular display of backbench power.

Gary Streeter, Tory MP for South West Devon and a whip in the Major government, said: "Every day we had a majority of one or two. Every vote was a cliffhanger and it will be like that again. We will have to show maximum discipline. We can't afford any cheap rebellions."

Mr Streeter says Mr Cameron will have a few months breathing space while Labour reorientates itself under a new leader and while the SNP, Labour and other parties work out how to co-ordinate attacks on the government.

But after that he says life will become tougher for the prime minister. "The first Queen's Speech will be the most important of the parliament," he said. He wants Mr Cameron to get on with things.

Mr Major's majority of 21 eventually evaporated after a series of by-elections, scandals and defections; Mr Cameron's slimmer margin of victory gives him less room for manoeuvre, although the opposition he faces is more fractured.

Mr Streeter wants Mr Cameron's first Queen's Speech to address constitutional issues such as the European Convention of Human Rights, as well as the bill to enable the EU referendum.

Meanwhile George Osborne is expected to move quickly to complete the deficit reduction plan: he is planning a spending review in the autumn, with new cuts to departmental spending and welfare.

Sir Richard Ottaway, a Tory grandee who stood down at the election, says that Mr Cameron's guarantee of an EU referendum should help to maintain discipline, rather than act as a cause for a renewed round of euro-trauma.

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Alan Duncan, a Euroceptic former Tory minister, agreed: "I don't think it will happen again because it happened before. There is still a memory of misery."

The problems may arise when Mr Cameron returns from Brussels with his renegotiated terms of EU membership, which are unlikely to satisfy some of his diehard Eurosceptics.

At that point some Tory MPs would announce their intention to campaign for a Brexit; Mr Cameron has indicated that it would be acceptable for backbenchers, but that ministers would have to toe the government line.

Mr Major's exasperation with Tory rightwing rebels - who discovered unexpected power because of the prime minister's shrinking majority - memorably led to him labelling some of his ministers "bastards".

One moderate Tory MP forecast the right - including MPs in the No Turning Back group - will flex its muscles in the next parliament. "They will want Cameron to deliver 'real Tory' stuff," the MP said. "I think there would be a very vigorous push back by the other wing of the party."

A veteran of the Major era recalls how the prime minister was pushed around by backbenchers on other issues; for example Tory MPs forced the abandonment of Michael Heseltine's plan to privatise the Post Office.

But there is also the physical toll on MPs associated with being part of a fragile government: Tory MPs will need to be ever-present on every bill committee to make sure they are not outvoted by other parties.

In the end Mr Major limped out of office in 1997, exhausted and laid low by his own party. Mr Cameron at least has the advantage of knowing at first hand what can go wrong.

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