The six-hour U-turn that saw the EU vote for austerity

"A week is a long time in politics," a British prime minister once quipped during his country's crises of the 1960s. But even a savvy and experienced statesman like PM Harold Wilson would have been left stunned by the recent volte face performed by European policymakers.

In the space of just six hours, let alone seven days, they had both celebrated the positive impact of increased public investment and voted to severely cut it.

The revealing series of events began at 11am last We...