How Brown could head the IMF

IT IS not hard to see what would attract Gordon Brown to the top job at the International Monetary Fund, although Whitehall sceptics do not believe he would give up his Prime Ministerial ambitions - despite recent speculation to the contrary.

His is one of several names put forward among Europe's senior politicians and bankers as possible successor to the outgoing Horst Kohler.

And while it may sometimes seem like one long cocktail party, the post of IMF managing director has a global status, up there with the head of the United Nations or the World Bank.

Most nations belong to the IMF, which monitors member economies, gives expert advice and provides loans if necessary. It tends to hit the headlines most often when a country is in economic crisis and needs a bailout or a plan to satisfy foreign investors. The MD is part banker, part diplomat and part manager.

The IMF has 3000 staff, mainly in Washington DC. Three days a week, the MD meets with three deputies - together they form the executive committee - to discuss staff reports on individual countries or issues. Reports, such as the annual assessment of the UK economy presented to the Government last week, become the basis of debate with relevant countries once approved by the committee.

Although the IMF traditionally has a European at its head, it can hardly function effectively without US government support. Indeed, in some crises, the IMF and US have acted in tandem to find a solution and money for a stricken country. So the MD is a regular on Washington's lunch and dinner circuit.

Still, the most high-profile aspect is to be the IMF's public face, giving speeches, attending glittering parties of the rich and powerful and hosting meetings of the world's most influential politicians and bankers. For instance he hosts the twice-yearly IMF/World Bank meetings which have become a jamboree of cocktail parties and networking events for finance ministers and international financiers.

But at least part of every month is spent shuttling around the globe, negotiating, cajoling, and arguing with heads of state, finance ministers and central bankers. This is when the roles of diplomat, banker and politician most obviously combine. Kohler's activities in the past few months are fairly typical.

Last September, he met Iraqi finance officials to help set up banking laws and a central banking system there. In October, he joined with the heads of the World Bank and the UN to argue the gap between rich and poor was too big, that the world economy now depended too much on the US.

The next month he was in Russia to see President Vladimir Putin. In December, he announced a joint IMF-World Bank report that urged developed countries to back down on trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and to promote freer exports.

By January, Argentina's economy was in crisis after a loan default and Kohler met President Nestor Kirchner to finalise rescue financing. That did not solve the crisis, so last month Kohler was in Florida with Argentine Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna.

They discussed the problem prior to an IMF board meeting this month, which would decide whether Argentina was acting in good faith with creditors. If the IMF had cut off further help, Argentina may have defaulted again, triggering a catastrophic withdrawal of foreign investment.

While he was in Florida, Kohler also found time to meet Iraqi finance officials to discuss loans.

With this kind of global reach, it might not be surprising if the job seemed somewhat more compelling to Brown than the frustrations of running the British economy. Particularly as the IMF chief is a banker on a tax-free banker's salary.

That might seem distinctly attractive compared with his pay packet from the UK Treasury.