Iain Duncan Smith praised his record as a governor and businessman and complained that the Republican presidential candidate had been wrongly portrayed as "stupid".
He also pointed out that under Barack Obama the US deficit had "gone from something like 4-500 billion dollars to three or so trillion dollars", and suggested the superpower's economy was stagnating.
Although Mr Duncan Smith stressed he did not know Mr Romney personally, and was not necessarily a "fan", the remarks appeared to risk breaching the convention against ministers taking sides in foreign elections.
"The demonisation of Mitt Romney over here has been appalling really," the Work and Pensions Secretary told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics. "He may have faults. All politicians have faults. But this is a guy who ran a state very well.
"He got their debts and deficit down. He's turned around businesses. Whatever else you may say about him, he is not stupid, and he is made out to be stupid over here." » | pa.press.net | Monday, November 05, 2012
