The UK has urged a more open selection process for the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund, suggesting there will be no early agreement on a European candidate for the job.

It emerged at the weekend that France and Germany are backing Mr Jean Lemierre, the French president of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for the position, which has traditionally been a European preserve.

If the UK were to swing its weight behind Mr Lemierre, it would almost certainly secure him the job. The backing of the three largest countries in the European Union would probably be enough to win over the rest of the EU. But the British government is not yet prepared to take that step.

Mr Gordon Brown, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, who chairs the IMF's supervisory International Monetary and Financial Committee, has been taking soundings among other members of the committee, which include the leading developed and developing countries. A British Treasury official said he wanted "a very wide range of countries" to be involved.

Other people still seen as contenders include Mr Rodrigo Rato, former finance minister of Spain, and Mr Mario Draghi, the former head of Italy's treasury who is now at Goldman Sachs, who may be backed by the Italian government.

The issue will come up at the meeting of EU finance ministers in Punchestown, on Saturday, but it is not expected to reach a conclusion on an agreed European candidate. It may now become bound up in horse-trading over appointments to the European Commission.

The developing country directors on the IMF board - known as the G11 - are considering proposing three candidates for consideration, including Mr Stanley Fischer, former first deputy managing director of the fund and now a Citigroup executive, and Mr Andrew Crockett, former head of the Bank for International Settlement and now with JP Morgan Chase International.

The US has not made public statements on candidates or on the process of selecting a candidate.