In December 2011, he opted for diplomatic isolation by vetoing the euro zone's plan to embed its fiscal pact in the EU treaties rather than risk confrontation with his party's Europhobes in parliament.
Days earlier in Paris, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, the French president and German chancellor, had all but given Britain an ultimatum: accept their plan to rewrite the laws of the EU, or prompt the 17 members of the euro zone to seek a separate deal and risk British isolation.