Boris Johnson lobbies Donald Trump to help make George Osborne IMF boss

Boris Johnson has apparently appealed to Donald Trump to help make George Osborne the next head of the International Monetary Fund.

In a phone call with the US president earlier this week, the prime minister raised the possibility of the former Conservative chancellor taking the managing director role, it is understood.

Even though Mr Osborne is believed to be the UK government's preferred choice for the job, he is unlikely to be successful as EU member states are backing Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva.

She is currently the chief executive of the World Bank and is the front-runner to succeed Christine Lagarde at the IMF.

The Fund, which is based in Washington DC, is made up of 189 countries working to improve global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability and increase international trade, while reducing poverty.

The IMF's managing directors have historically been European, with Americans taking the equivalent role as president of the World Bank.

Mr Johnson and Mr Osborne have similar backgrounds.

They both studied at Oxford and were members of The Bullingdon Club, an exclusive all-male dining club for the university's undergraduates.

Mr Osborne was chancellor under former prime minister David Cameron between 2010 and 2016 and is now editor of the Evening Standard newspaper, which covers the London area.

Since leaving parliament in April 2017, Mr Osborne has received widespread criticism for taking up a number of different posts.

He became an adviser to the world's largest fund manager Blackrock and chaired the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

He also held a string of academic posts at Stanford Business School and the Hoover Institution.

And last year, it was announced the former chancellor would chair a partners council overseeing Exor, the listed holding company of the Italian Agnelli family.

Companies owned by the £10.5bn family investment business include Fiat, Ferrari and Juventus football club.

The Evening Standard backed Mr Johnson in the Conservative leadership race but the pair also have a history of political rivalry.

They had both been seen as potential Tory leaders and were on opposite sides in the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, with Mr Johnson backing Leave and Mr Osborne supporting Remain.

Mr Osborne has been widely reported as the UK's preferred choice to become the next IMF chief, but the selection has sparked criticism.

Arch-Brexiteer Tory MP Steve Baker said it was "not a good idea" because it would send "another crystal clear signal that the IMF is a political institution, not an economic one".