Britain has finally thrown its weight behind France’s candidate for the leadership of the International Monetary Fund after calling repeatedly for the nomination process to be more open.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that the UK would support Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former French Finance Minister, as managing director of the world body.

Although Portugal, which holds the European Union presidency, has said that the EU’s 27 finance ministers had agreed to nominate France’s candidate, the Treasury had, until now, kept its distance.

Instead, Britain has challenged Europe’s right to select the leader of the IMF. The post has gone to a European ever since the body was set up after the Second World War, while the head of the World Bank has always been an American.

In July, Mr Darling said: “I don’t think Europe can simply say: ‘That position is ours and we are not prepared to discuss it with anyone else.’ ” A Treasury spokesman said last night that Britain had struck a deal with France to allow greater transparency in the nominating process next time around.

He said: “The UK supports an open and transparent process for selecting the managing director of the IMF, regardless of nationality.

“We have welcomed the process that the IMF board put in place to select the next managing director and strongly believe this should be a template for all future senior appointments at the international financial institutions. Such appointments should be open to candidates from all regions of the world.”

Mr Darling said: “Dominique Strauss-Kahn has extensive experience in international financial issues. I welcome his commitment to engage with the whole membership of the Fund to promote global financial stability and economic development, and to tackle the reform challenges faced by the Fund.”

Mr Strauss-Kahn’s appointment is now seen as a certainty. The only other candidate for the job is Josef Tosovsky, the former Czech prime minister, who was endorsed unexpectedly by Russia last month.

Yet even the Czech Republic, whose central bank was also at one stage headed by Mr Tosovsky, has endorsed Mr Strauss-Khan.

Rodrigo de Rato, the IMF’s managing director, announced in June that he planned to leave Washington for personal reasons. He will continue in his job until after the Fund’s annual meetings, which are to be held in the middle of next month.

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