* UK public borrowing too high at crisis start, BoE gov says
* Cites borrowing impact on ability to boost fiscal policy
* Opposition Conservatives welcome comments
(Adds quotes, details)
By Matt Falloon and David Milliken
LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Britain entered the financial crisis with government borrowing that was too high, preventing it from boosting fiscal policy as much as other countries, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Thursday.
However, the nation was nowhere near bankrupt, King told lawmakers at a parliamentary committee on Thursday.
"We entered this crisis with levels of public borrowing which were too high," King told the Treasury Committee. "We have not actually engaged in as big a fiscal relaxation as other countries in recognition of that fact."
The government has pledged hundreds of billions of pounds to shore up Britain's banks against the global financial crisis, but help for households and businesses has been comparatively thin, provoking a public outcry as the economic downturn gathers pace.
The opposition Conservatives seized on King's comments, which they said backed their argument that Prime Minister Gordon Brown -- formerly the finance minister -- had not put enough cash aside when times were good.
"The Governor of the Bank of England has confirmed what we've always said -- that Gordon Brown borrowed too much in the boom and left Britain badly prepared for the recession," the Conservatives' treasury spokesman George Osborne said.
BRITAIN NOT BUST
British public borrowing has shot up as a result of the bank bailout packages and falling tax receipts, leading some experts to speculate the nation may be on a road to ruin.
The government forecasts borrowing will reach 118 billion pounds, or some 8 percent of GDP, in the fiscal year starting in April.
It could go higher if finance minister Alistair Darling unveils another fiscal boost in his April 22 budget.
But King said it was wrong to say the current debt burden was unsustainable, although he noted that there would have to be some tightening at some stage which would not be comfortable.
"The Chancellor has very clearly recognised that there will need to be a path of fiscal consolidation in the future. And it will take time. It won't be very comfortable and we will have to do it," King said.
"But it's a million miles away from saying we need fiscal consolidation to saying that the UK is like Zimbabwe and that we should go into administration. That is wholly irresponsible."
He added that most of the debt racked up by the government in taking RBS and Lloyds Banking Group onto the public balance sheet would be repaid in the future when it sold off these shareholdings.
BoE officials have in the past tended to shy away from commenting on government policy, but the dividing line between monetary and fiscal policy is becoming less distinct as interest rates fast approach zero.
The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has already asked Darling for permission to boost the money supply to kick-start a recovery.
MPC member David Blanchflower this week called for a 90 billion pound investment to curb unemployment.
(Writing by Fiona Shaikh; Editing by Jason Neely)