"What we have today is a story based on speculation about what (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel might have said about something (British Prime Minster) David Cameron might say in the future," said David Davis, a prominent Conservative member of Parliament, in London on Sunday.

So no big deal, then?

It's a very big deal: Merkel is pulling the rug out from under Cameron. For all his tough talk about renegotiating the terms of Britain's membership in the European Union, she is saying, he has no cards in his hand.