British officials insist that David Cameron has no interest in a staged confrontation with other leaders during his renegotiation of Britain's EU membership. But his manoeuvres in Brussels with Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday had every appearance of being, if not quite operatic, highly choreographed.
Before the prime minister left for Brussels, Downing Street trailed the balloon of an “emergency brake” that could allow Britain to ban EU migrants from claiming benefits for four years if its welfare system is overwhelmed.
The usual Eurosceptic suspects trooped into studios to denounce the proposal on Friday morning, with former Conservative minister John Redwood dismissing it as a bad joke.
"That proposal is an insult to the United Kingdom. It's not a serious offer. We need to take back control of our borders and we need to be able to control our own welfare system. That falls well short of that. It says that we have to beg in extreme circumstances for the permission of the rest of the EU to temporarily make payments we don't want to make. It's just simply a bad joke," he told the BBC.
But others, such as the moderately Eurosceptic but deeply loyal Conservative MP Nick Herbert, also made themselves available to say they could support a deal if it addressed the "unnatural draw" of Britain's benefits system to people from poorer EU member-states.
Cameron was able to claim that "what I was previously told was impossible is now looking like it is possible", although he said after his lunch with Juncker that the proposal did not go far enough.
The choreography continues tomorrow evening, when European Council president Donald Tusk will be in London for dinner with the prime minister. The following day, Tusk is due to publish his proposals for addressing Britain's concerns.
Both Cameron and his European interlocutors know that an early referendum has the best chance of producing a vote for Britain to remain in the EU. If a deal is agreed next month, Cameron can hold the referendum in June, while he remains relatively popular and before any new migrant crisis in Europe is likely to reach its climax. So both sides have an interest in avoiding unnecessary histrionics and agreeing a deal quickly.
Campaigners for Britain to remain in the EU are sounding increasingly confident that only three cabinet ministers – Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling and Theresa Villiers – will join the Leave campaign. Home secretary Theresa May and justice secretary Michael Gove are poised to back the prime minister, according to a leading figure in the Remain campaign, along with London mayor Boris Johnson.
Still, Cameron needs a plausible deal to present to voters, particularly on migration, which is not only the most politically sensitive issue, but also the one about which the prime minister has been most specific in his demands.