Gordon Brown increases the pressure on Iceland
Gordon Brown yesterday entered the fray with regards to the Icelandic banking compensation bill which has been held up by activists in Iceland. The British Prime Minister has threatened "diplomatic war" with Iceland if the government goes back on a pledge to pay £2.3 billion to the UK government. This puts the Icelandic authorities in a very difficult situation because they have lost support of voters in their homeland and are now losing support from their allies overseas.
There is a growing feeling that the Icelandic bid to join the EU could well be at risk as the UK appears set to raise the bar and raise the pressure on the Icelandic president. It was assumed that the compensation bill was a "done deal" but over the last few days it has become apparent that support in Iceland for the government has been rocked by the bill. It will be interesting to see if the authorities have the nerve to go ahead and ratify the bill leaving them open to criticism from Icelandic voters.
This could not have come at a worse time for Gordon Brown with the election around the corner and UK voters hanging on the every word of the authorities.
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