David Cameron doesn’t want Gordon Brown at the IMF

Earlier today, British prime minister David Cameron offered up some very candid thoughts on who should be the next International Monetary Fund managing director: Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron insisted Tuesday that his predecessor Gordon Brown shouldn’t become a candidate to lead the International Monetary Fund, and suggested the next chief should be the first ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Earlier today, British prime minister David Cameron offered up some very candid thoughts on who should be the next International Monetary Fund managing director:

Earlier today, British prime minister David Cameron offered up some very candid thoughts on who should be the next International Monetary Fund managing director:

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron insisted Tuesday that his predecessor Gordon Brown shouldn’t become a candidate to lead the International Monetary Fund, and suggested the next chief should be the first from outside of Europe.

Cameron said Brown may not be a suitable contender to replace Dominique Strauss-Khan, because of his views on what needs to be done to sort out Britain’s public finances. During Brown’s premiership, Britain’s borrowings mushroomed in the wake of the financial crisis and the ensuing recession.

The Prime Minister said the next chief must be someone who "understands the dangers of excessive debt," and suggested the IMF should look to emerging economies in India, China or South Asia for a candidate, instead of a "washed up politician."

Cameron’s statement is remarkable not only for the brutal stiff-arm to Gordon Brown but also because the prime minister appears quite willing to relinquish Europe’s traditional hold on the managing director slot. I can’t imagine that Cameron’s counterparts in Paris, Berlin, and Brussels will share that generous spirit. My impression is that Europe won’t give up the managing director slot without an explicit American agreement to cede its hold over the World Bank presidency.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tag: IMF

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