And so it has come to this. Following a last-minute surprise-attack by the French at the weekend, the UK has a fight on its hands if it wants to defend Europeans' right to invest in US hedge funds. The next few days of wrangling in Brussels over the controversial Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive will be crucial.

Europe's negotiators are now in the very last stages of the marathon negotiations over the directive, which places various controls, rules and standards on the hedge funds and private equity industries.