Merkel to Cameron: ‘madness’ talk is ‘typical British negotiating punch’

We are still waiting for the end of the summit, so I pass on something you overhear as the leaders start the European Council meeting.

After a cheek kiss with President Barosso and David Cameron, Chancellor Merkel makes it clear that she caught David Cameron’s words in Davos when he referred to President Sarkozy’s pet project of a financial transaction tax as “madness.”

She tells David Cameron about how he said the idea “personified madness” and then says that she and her team said this showed “typical British negotiating punch.”

Chancellor Merkel has another saying which aides say she uses frequently in private: “If you climb up a tree you have to climb down it.” She may well be looking at David Cameron’s mini u-turn this afternoon on the use of EU institutions by the rest of the EU and think she’s watching just such an arborial stunt.

Certainly some Tory MPs think they’re looking at some kind of climbdown and don’t like it.

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