The prime minister will be unable to table his demands for the repatriation of powers before the next election because Clegg has dismissed this strategy as "a false promise wrapped in a union jack".
And bolstered by successive polls that have shown the vast majority of Britons to be in favour of repatriation it has put aside the issue of ownership, instead proposing joint curatorship of the sculptures through the establishment of a branch of the British Museum in Athens.
One of the big bones of contention in the Letwin/Alexander talks has been the future of the European arrest warrant which Tory right-wingers have put at the centre of their campaign for the repatriation of British powers from Brussels.
"Pakistan's government is tarnishing the country's well-deserved reputation for hospitality toward refugees by tolerating the punitive and potentially unlawful coercive repatriation of Afghan refugees," said HRW's deputy Asia director, Phelim Kine.
It smacked of a cross between a 70s National Front repatriation drive and an Ealing comedy shot through with cruelty.
Over glasses of water in a Philippine cafe in a Doha suburba populated by migrant workers, the women laid bare their wretched six-month odyssey, which has left them on the brink of despair and repatriation.
MPs want him to commit to repatriation of powers at the very least, which he is reluctant to do until the shape of a new Europe is known.
In a swipe at David Cameron's plans for a renegotiation and in/out referendum by 2017, Blair will call on pro-Europeans to "make the debate more than about the repatriation of certain competencies and rules".
Even now, nearly 40 years after the issue of repatriation was first raised by the late actor Melina Mercouri, the Greeks still speak of a "win-win" situation where the dispute is settled amicably.
Jose said 36 of the 52 Filipinos want to go home and more are expected to sign up for repatriation in the coming days.
Syrians detained offshore offered repatriation despite the prospect of certain death.
