Will 2016 be the year Cameron finally turns pro-EU?

WILL 2016 be the annus mirabilis or the annus horribilis for David Cameron? Rarely has a British prime minister confronted his destiny quite so directly as Mr Cameron, who celebrates his 50th birthday this year.

In January 2013, he announced that Britain would hold a referendum on staying in the European Union or leaving it. In the three years since, he has won a second term of office and also announced that he would stand down as prime minister before the next election in 2020.

Unlike Margaret Thatcher, who celebrated her 10th anniversary as British premier in 1989 by saying that she intended "to go on and on and on" (and found herself ousted a year later), Mr Cameron is not insisting he must stay in power as Britain's leader forever.