Cypriot leader fails to wriggle out of corner

The hugely controversial bailout conditions, imposing a 6.75 per cent charge on bank accounts of up to €100,000 (£85,000) and 9.9 per cent on deposits above that amount has been rejected not only by the parliamentary opposition but even by those who made the deal in the first place.

IMF head Christine Lagarde said in Frankfurt that the IMF was "extremely supportive of the Cypriot authorities' intentions to introduce more progressive rates in the one-off tax," despite having been party to the original deal.

And, late on Monday, eurozone finance ministers urged Cyprus to rethink the levy, even though it had been agreed in Brussels on Saturday.

The EU is grimly aware that the "one-off" imposition on Cyprus has backfired on the whole EU as well as on the sorry administration of incompetent new Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, whose administration has spent what political capital it possessed with voters faster than it agreed to plunder their accounts to featherbed bigger account holders.

The idea of such one-off taxation of accounts has gone down like a lead balloon on the world's money markets and is already affecting the rates at which speculators are prepared to loan to EU nations.

The miserly concession of exempting all deposits below €20,000 (£17,000) looked unlikely to win over the furious left opposition or even some governing party members.

So, almost inevitably, the vote was likely to be postponed until tomorrow.

Cypriot banks are now to remain closed until Thursday at the earliest.

In the air, Britain was flying in a planeload of cash for servicepeople who might not be able to access cash machines.

In parliament, the finance minister has offered to resign.

And on the streets outside, the demonstrators are appearing in steadily rising numbers - a sure sign that the troika's in town.