By Sid Astbury/DPA/London

Nigel Farage and his fellow eurosceptics in the UK Independence Party (Ukip) are delighted at Britain receiving a demand for extra cash from the European Commission.
They present the 2.1bn-euro ($2.7bn) surcharge, levied because the economy is growing faster than expected, as further proof that Britain should leave the European Union.
The timing is perfect for Ukip, which won its first seat in the Westminster parliament through a by-election last month and is favoured to win a second when another deserter from Prime Minister David Cameron’s ruling Conservatives tries to regain his old seat, Rochester and Strood in England’s south, for his new party.
Farage chuckles at the conga-line of EU luminaries insisting London has no option but to pay up.
“Everyone in Brussels has been very clear with Britain: no renegotiation,” Farage tweeted.
Cameron is on the spot. Promising to pay in full and on time would be a propaganda coup for Ukip ahead of the November 20 by-election.
Farage could batter the Tories, already fractured on Europe, as weak-willed on both staying in and getting out.
But trying for a deferral or a discount, could gift Farage a marvellous montage of Cameron and his government grovelling to Brussels.
Cameron is neither paying up nor ripping up the bill. His is a graduated climb down, said Steve Hughes, director of international strategy at Newcastle University.
“From strident rejection we now have a promise to ‘crawl through’ the detail,” Hughes said. “This will be a negotiated settlement with the language carefully crafted to echo in the streets in Rochester and Strood.”
Cameron is out to make the most of this tiff with Brussels, showing a willingness to stand up for Britain but also compromise when necessary.
Ukip in May came top of the British parties in European Parliament elections, winning 24 seats, up from 10 of the assembly’s more than 750 seats.
It is hoping the twin voter concerns of Britain’s place in Europe and the rate of immigration will power it to 100 Westminster seats at the general election in May.
Eurosceptics within Cameron’s party are goading him to say which side he will campaign for in the in/out referendum on membership he has promised if triumphant in May.
Party colleagues who favour staying in complain that Cameron’s constant carping about Brussels gives voters the impression he wants out. They worry this mixed message will end badly in May.
Thomas Raines, a researcher at Chatham House, sees it differently.
“The Conservatives will go into the next election with a clear message: we intend to negotiate a looser relationship with a reformed EU, and once this is achieved, we will give the British people a choice in the simplest possible terms,” he predicted in a paper given at the London think tank.
A poll by market research firm Ipsos Mori indicated support for Britain staying in Europe had risen to a 23-year high. Greater comfort for Cameron comes from a YouGov poll that found Cameron most-trusted to get the best deal in negotiations in Brussels with 26 per cent of respondent, coming in ahead of Farage on 15% and the opposition Labour Party’s Ed Miliband on 12%.
Cameron is under huge pressure to take a stand on the EU bill. But he has not said categorically that Britain will not pay. And even those most keen to berate Brussels have fallen short of digging themselves a ditch.
“We’re going to look at how this sum got calculated,” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
Cameron, some are suggesting, will “crawl through” the detail to get to a face-saving compromise on the payment.