For months, David Cameron has largely kept his counsel about the crisis in the eurozone, preferring to make his points in private. Until now. “The situation with the world economy is very precarious,” he says. “The eurozone is probably contributing more to that uncertainty and lack of confidence than anything else.”
The prime minister believes this autumn will define Europe and this generation of leaders, as they grapple with perhaps the Continent’s most serious postwar economic challenge. Sitting in his Downing Street office after a draining week at the Conservative party’s annual conference, it is clear he is not altogether sure they will rise to that challenge.
“You either make the eurozone work properly or you confront its potential failure,” he says. British officials believe Mr Cameron has been constrained not just because the UK sits outside the eurozone but because he is unwilling to put his hand in his pocket. Says one diplomat: “There are some meetings it is better not to be in – you have to pay to play.”