Brown Denies Referendums, Mr President

"I hope that the people of these two countries and their political leaders will, in keeping with the longstanding democratic traditions of Britain and the Netherlands, acknowledge that a referendum is a democratic way of making a decision,” said the President of Iceland where the referendum, on the bill to compensate Brown's payment of his clients' losses from their risky behaviour, is to be on 20 February.

Iceland is not unwilling to meet its financial obligations under European rules, as Brown is pretending with his threats,  it is deciding if it will meet Brown's excessive demands that all the risk losses should be compensated.

Brown is now so weakened by what Mandelson calls the 'initiative' to ballot his leadership it is doubtful the IMF and other Iceland supporters will lend themselves to his distasteful bullying.