UK may back next top IMF official from India

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Pushing for a candidate from outside Europe of America as next managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the influential foreign affairs committee of the House of Commons has suggested an Indian as a candidate that Britain could support.

French politician Christine Lagarde, the current managing director, this week announced her resignation with effect from September 12. She has been nominated by the European Council as president of the European Central Bank.

Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the committee that published a widely-welcomed report on UK-India relations on June 24, wrote to foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt that countries with major economies should now hold leadership positions in international organisations.

He wrote: “To defend the international system today, we must look to select leaders for international organisations from across the nations that now represent the major economies, not just those who have traditionally held these posts”.

“A candidate from outside Europe or America would offer a new perspective and the UK’s backing of such a nominee would help strengthen our position as the key defender of the rules-based system while updating it for the modern era”.

Noting the committee’s report on UK-India relations that concluded that the UK is falling behind the global race to engage with India, Tugendhat told Hunt: “This (report) would suggest that engagement with India may provide a candidate we could support”.

Hunt, he added, may feel that another Commonwealth country may offer a similar opportunity for the UK to promote democratic partners. Would the government commit to a candidate from outside Europe or America and talk to other democratic governments, he asked Hunt.