Mr Wulff, 51 at the time of his election, was once seen as possible future chancellor.

The next governing coalition, and the future chancellor, will be chosen on the basis of showings of the parties.

This advice appeared good to the future chancellor.

After all, Nej was bitterly aware that he owed his discommendation to the inflexibility of both future chancellor Sturka and a majority on the Council.

(A third cousin, Zheng Yanchang, would be a future chancellor.)

Among his pupils was future German chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

He also said that he did not want to set a precedent for future chancellors by refusing a house or a housing stipend.

Matthias Platzeck, once viewed as a possible future chancellor, stepped down as leader of the Social Democrats after just five months.

Later on, when Mahler was in prison for bank robberies and assisting a prison escape, Gerhard Schröder, Germany's future chancellor, became his lawyer.

This means that the mind of the future chancellor may have been on other matters when the Warsaw Pact started to crumble.