Is Philip Hammond right to be so Tiggerish over the economy? | Larry Elliott

Weak GDP growth of first quarter could be low point but chancellor faces serious headwinds

Philip Hammond was in an upbeat mood when he held a breakfast at the British embassy in Washington DC during last week's spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund. The economy had turned a corner, the chancellor insisted, once again comparing his mood to the ever-cheerful Tigger in AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories.

Whether Hammond remains quite so Tiggerish in the light of the latest UK growth figures remains to be seen. In the first three months of the year, gross domestic product grew by only 0.1%, the weakest quarterly result since the UK was having a post-London Olympics hangover in late 2012. The City knew the news was going to be bad but not that bad.

Related: UK economy suffers weakest period of GDP growth in five years