Merkel’s exit will leave a gaping hole in centrist politics | Rafael Behr

The German chancellor has been a torch-bearer for civilised values. Liberal democracy needs more figures like her

Turning points in world affairs form flashbulb memories, vivid snapshots of the scene when we heard the news: declarations of war; assassinations; natural disasters. They form the album of shared memories that defines each generation.

On the November morning in 1990 when Margaret Thatcher resigned, I was at school. I can picture the very classroom. The teacher took the unprecedented step of wheeling in a TV so we could watch the Iron Lady’s momentous departure from Downing Street. I had no notion of what it was like to have a different prime minister. French friends say it was the same for them when François Mitterrand stood down in 1995, after 14 years in the Elysée palace. It took a while to get used to hearing the words “monsieur le president” in reference to a different face.

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