Poor Dave!

'Dave' Cameron is caught a bit between a rock and a hard place.
He is a dyed-in-the-wool europhile.
The EU is making, what for him, are politically impossible demands on budgets and consequently, he is having to give the impression of standing up to The Commission which is most emphatically a place where he does not want to be.
There are a very small handful of Tory MPs who can 'slaughter him' if he does not toe the line and perhaps another 40 who are more mindful of what their constituents want rather than what Mr Cameron wants.

Please do pardon my lack of sympathy.