Sorry, Gordon
SOMEBODY with a working memory ought to have warned Gordon Brown. He has allowed his fellow finance ministers to make him chairman of the International Monetary Fund's Interim Committee. They meant it kindly, for their committee serves as a steering group, so he will get his hand on the tiller when he goes to Wash- ington next week for the IMF and World Bank meetings. He is, of course, full of ideas for redesigning what he calls the world's financial architecture, and he he may even succeed in giving his committee a less ludicrous name. (It has been called `interim' ever since it started, a quarter of a century ago.) The trouble is that chairing this committee is the kiss of death. Finance ministers who take it on soon find that they have lost their job at home. Some, like Sir Geoffrey Howe, move sideways. More are moved out. Sorry, Gordon.
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