I'll need to dig up the beeb podcast from the other week, but the bit I heard related to Labour dealing with the IMF in the '70s to get a loan. It was interesting to hear more nuances on the economy during his time, the things they were doing to correct it, and the flawed treasury figures that stuffed them at various points.
Just reminded of it as you mentioned debt and there are recent articles of the IMF telling us what we should be doing.