After the heat of battle: the accolades, the recriminations, the telling of history by the victors. It’s six months early for our Parliamentarian of the Year shortlist, but my nominee for this year’s top award is… the honourable member (or one of them) for the constituency of Athens B, Yanis Varoufakis.
Last week, the grandstanding Greek finance minister was declared to have been ‘sidelined’ from his nation’s on-the-brink debt negotiations, following a more than usually stormy meeting with fellow European finance ministers in Riga. ‘They are unanimous in their hate for me; and I welcome their hatred,’ he tweeted, quoting Franklin Roosevelt. How we journalists sighed at the prospect of losing the only leading player in Europe who adds colour to our copy. Would he be heading back to Essex University to teach bad economics — or taking up a new career as a Bruce Willis lookalike?
No he wouldn’t, because a week later he has already made a comeback: ‘The head of the negotiating team is Mr Varoufakis, who has the full confidence of the government,’ said a spokesman, adding that talks are now cruising for a settlement that will satisfy both the EU and the IMF, beginning with a €750 million repayment next week.
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