The colourful characters and equally colourful rhetoric of the faction on the far left of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's Syriza party have added to the drama of his showdown with international creditors. Syriza officials say privately that whatever the rhetoric from party figures, if Tsipras reaches an agreement with creditors the left wing will ultimately back it to prevent the collapse of the country's first radical leftist government. The euro is a failed currency," said Costas Lapavitsas, who gave up an academic economics career in Britain to join the Greek parliament in Syriza's victory this year.