GEORGE Osborne was likened to a student listening to his economics lecturer yesterday after a visit from Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.

The Chancellor met his Hellenic counterpart just over a week after Syriza swept to power amid anger over extreme austerity measures.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Mr Osborne said he “urged the Greek finance minister to act responsibly.”

But a reporter for right-wing Sky News described the Tory as looking like he was “the student listening on” as the lecturer-turned­politician taught him a lesson.

Speaking from Greece, Syriza economics advisor Costas Lapavitsas gave a flavour of Mr Varoufakis’s message.

He told the Star: “The first priority is to reverse the most painful austerity decisions, then negotiating a write-down of debt and a moratorium on repayments until the economy starts growing.”

And he said: “The Greek message is not that Greece is looking for charity. Greece can help Britain by instituting an anti-austerity policy.”

London was the second stop on Mr Varoufakis’s whistle-stop tour of Europe aimed at drumming up support for debt renegotiation.

Having flown from Paris in economy class, the minister was greeted by supporters as he arrived at Downing Street in a black leather trenchcoat.

Mr Varoufakis has continued writing on his economics blog despite taking office.

On Saturday, he wrote that he was “appalled by the depths of inaccuracy” of a BBC Newsnight report screened before his visit.