UK chancellor George Osborne has formally nominated Christine Lagarde to serve a second five-year term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, in an early move designed to create unstoppable momentum behind her.
The former French finance minister, who has indicated that she would like to stay on at the IMF, has been praised for building its public stature, advancing reforms to give China and other emerging economies a greater voice, and pushing the fund into discussions on topics such as inequality and climate change.
The nomination by Mr Osborne, which came at a minute past midnight in Washington on Thursday, is aimed at building unstoppable momentum behind Ms Lagarde even though she faces a possible criminal trial in France this year over her role in a 2008 payment to businessman Bernard Tapie.