Will we ever get to the referendum in Greece?

Two deputies from the ruling Pasok party have served notice they will not support George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, in the no confidence vote which is supposed to happen late Friday night. That brings his numbers down to 151 in a Greek Parliament of 300, a majority of 2. And it’s only Tuesday lunchtime.

The Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was said to be in hospital with stress and stomach cramps – though some are now casting doubt on that and think he is scheming.

But as I said last night, a general election triggered by any “no confidence” vote would look and feel a lot like a referendum anyway. (Actually, it might look a little like a civil war.)

Mr Papandreou was supposed to be in power until 2013 but right now it looks possible he won’t get to the end of 2011.

The Greek cabinet meets at 4pm London time, I hear. Statements of some kind expected after that.