Look at India, China for next IMF chief, says Cameron

The British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, has called on the IMF to look to countries such as India and China when it picks a replacement for Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

The IMF has to be listened to and be taken seriously not just in the West but all over the world so it may well be time for the IMF to have a candidate from another part of the world to increase its standing in the world, Mr Cameron told BBC Radio's Today Program on Tuesday. “If you think in general about the rise of India and China, the IMF may well have to think about that shift in focus,” he said.

The coveted position of IMF Managing Director would come up next year when Mr Strauss-Kahn is widely expected to swap the contentious world of global debt and deficits for French politics.

He is yet to confirm whether he will run as a socialist candidate in next year's Presidential elections, against centre-right President Mr Nicolas Sarkozy. Comments from his wife about her desire that he not run for a second term at the IMF have kept the speculation alive and he has done little to reject it.

Britain's former Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown, has been one of the front-runners to succeed him, but Mr Cameron appeared to stymie that plan. Mr Brown's track record of not recognising Britain's debt problem meant he “might not be the most appropriate candidate”, Mr Cameron told the radio programme, in a surprisingly candid attack on the politician's IMF hopes. As Mr Brown would need to be nominated by his own government, Mr Cameron's refusal to endorse him would be a blow.

“You need someone extraordinarily competent and capable,” Mr Cameron said. The person running the IMF has to be “someone who understands the issues of excessive debt and excessive deficit,” he added.

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