Christine Lagarde has a major conflict of interest

The Daily Mail's City editor, Alex Brummer, in his leader yesterday agreed with my objections to Madame Lagarde becoming next head of the IMF.  He put it very well pointing out that she  represents the Eurozone, the main benificiary of IMF soft loans. Crudely she is lending money to herself and in any language that is a clear and unacceptable conflict of interest. When you add in her political ambitions to be President of France eventually you see this conflict of interest will persist over something like 7 years. Its an unacceptable situation.

The IMF needs a head from outside the Eurozone to preserve the integrity of the IMF and to force the Eurozone into the reforms it needs. I am glad to see the Americans are pointing this out and the BRICS are mobilising to back a single candidate probably the Mexican Augustein Carstens who has served as deputy CEO in the IMF and in that respect is rather better qualified than M Lagarde who still has to answer allegations of a sweetheart loan deal with Sarkozy's ally Bernard Tapie. Even Martin Wolf in the rabidly Europhile FT argues against a European head of the IMF

It is unedifying to see the Tories led by Osborne bad mouthing Brown for partisan reasons whilst distinguished US economists support Brown. Its public schoolboy Flashmanesque behaviour at its worst and shames our nation. I don't like Gordon Brown. I like Christine Lagarde but there is no doubt in my mind Brown would do a beeter job for the world as head of the IMF than the delicious Christine.

The Eurozone crisis is like following a river to its inevitable destination the sea. Sometimes it will be rapidly flowing, sometimes over rapids and waterfalls and sometimes there will be long calm slow moving stretches. Thus it will be for the Euro flowing to its inevitable break up.

Click here for my personal view on Bannerman & Andreasen's defection