Katja Hoyer Katja Hoyer

The rapid fall of Germany’s health minister

(Photo by Christian Marquardt – Pool/Getty Images)

Young, polished and confident, Germany’s health minister became the country’s most popular politician in 2020. A darling of the conservative right, Jens Spahn, was even tipped as a candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor. At the peak of his popularity last November, surveys indicated approval from nearly two-thirds of all Germans. He seemed to reflect the success story that was Germany’s handling of the pandemic, the personification of friendly German efficiency.

Fast forward to last week, and you find a defensive Spahn facing a hostile one-hour long grilling in parliament. His arms crossed and his jaw set, the 40-year-old was visibly tense as he braced himself for questions from angry MPs. Bärbel Bas demanded to know how Spahn would roll out vaccinations effectively once the full amount of expected doses arrives, given that he seemed incapable of getting the sparse stock currently available into people’s arms. Another MP asked when the ‘dilettantism’ would stop. While the Greens’ Janosch Dahmen could not understand why testing technology that had been around for months had only just been approved for use in Germany.

The German people share the increasing scepticism of their MPs. In the latest Spiegel survey, only around a third of participants said that they were satisfied with their health minister’s work.

Yet, the steep career rise of Jens Spahn had looked so promising. At the tender age of 22, he became an MP and immediately took the conservative wing of Angela Merkel’s CDU by storm. From 2018, at the age of 37, he walked the corridors of power as Angela Merkel made him health minister.

Spahn’s biggest problem stems from a loss of trust his hypocrisy has earned him

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Spahn grasped the unique opportunity to show that he was more than an over-ambitious upstart — a safe pair of hands, capable of dealing with even the most challenging of crises.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in