UK's Darling leads race to run Treasury under Brown

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) British Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling is leading the race to be the country's next finance minister if Gordon Brown becomes prime minister as expected, political sources say.

In charge of the Treasury for a decade, Brown looks certain to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair by July, but the issue of his successor is less clear-cut even though economic policy is unlikely to change much whoever gets the job.

Other likely candidates for the title of Chancellor of the Exchequer are former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Brown's long-time lieutenant and architect of much of the ruling Labour party's economic policy, Treasury Minister Ed Balls.

Many in financial markets favour the 40-year-old Balls as offering the most seamless transition after a record run of uninterrupted growth and low inflation on Brown's watch.

''Balls would be very good in terms of offering continuity but there are some questions about the degree of his political experience,'' said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.

Promoting Balls so quickly -- he became a minister last year -- to what is generally regarded as the second most powerful job in government might lead to accusations of cronyism but he is still likely to get a cabinet post.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury is seen as a possibility for Balls, a move which would please the City of London financial centre, and also keeps him in line for the top Treasury job.

Darling, 53, is also a loyal Brown ally but has held a wide range of jobs in Blair's cabinet since 1997, including Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and is widely regarded as a safe pair of hands.

But like Brown, Darling is a Scot. Making him chancellor would mean the holders of the top two jobs in government would not be English.

If John Reid, also Scottish, is kept on as Home Secretary (interior minister) as expected, that could be a gift to the opposition Conservatives, who have sought to turn Brown's Scottish nationality into a political handicap.

Some say Darling's reputation as a fixer within government could mean he would be wasted at the Treasury: better to put him in charge of a department that needs licking into shape.

That means Straw, 60, who is still in the cabinet as leader of the House of Commons and is running Brown's campaign for the Labour leadership, has a strong claim on the Treasury brief.

Reports say he would probably prefer to go back to his old job at the Foreign Office, especially as Brown is likely to take a less active role in international affairs than Blair did.

But that might make it harder for a Brown administration to draw a line under the war in Iraq -- a key reason for much of Labour's unpopularity -- as Straw was foreign minister during the 2003 US-led invasion.

REUTERS RS RAI2009

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