The IMF provides big boost to George Osborne (...and the BBC agrees)

By Tim Montgomerie

The annual IMF report on the UK economy has just been released and it gives fulsome backing to the Coalition's economic strategy. It uses words like "strong", "credible", "essential", "appropriately ambitious" and "sustainable". George Osborne could have written it himself.

I was about to write it up but some of our Left-leaning readers would not necessarily have accepted my interpretation of the report so I give you Stephanie Flanders, the BBC's Economic Editor. This is what she writes:

"It couldn't be better timing for George Osborne. On the day that Labour's old and new guard debate just how outraged to be about the government's deficit plans, the IMF has given them a resounding thumbs up."

Note that: resounding.

She continues: "In the body of the report, the staff warm to their theme, and make clear that they consider Mr Osborne's plans an improvement on Alistair Darling's." My emphasis again.

And concludes: "In the public relations battle over the deficit, Mr Osborne's team has won an important, and surprisingly unqualified, endorsement." Unqualified.

Ms Flanders' full blog is here.

> G20 Finance Ministers have also backed the Coalition approach.