Christine Lagarade, the strong lady of the IMF admits that the pessimistic forecasts of the organization for the British economy, were wrong. But the British are not willing to let it fly, just like that.

So, when asked if she had apologized to the British Finance Minister George Osborne, the IMF chief said: “Do I have to get on my knees and plead?”.

However, as she admitted, the growth that Britain now enjoys is the result of policies followed by Osborne. The same policies that the IMF asked of him to abandon.

A year ago, Oliver Blanchard, chief economist of the Fund, had warned that Osborne is “playing with fire” due to the austerity policies being followed. The IMF had downgraded his forecasts for UK growth in 2013, to just 0.7%. Eventually, the economy achieved rates of 1.7% and is expected to accelerate to 2.7% this year.

This growth is a result of Osborne’s policies, says Lagarde.

The premise of the IMF is a blow for Ed Miliband and the opposition, which asks for higher taxation of individuals and new taxes for banks. Lagarde replied that the Fund does not constitute a tax increase.