Farewell to Angela Merkel – I appreciate you showing us what leadership should look like

Angela Merkel is doing a remarkable thing. She is leaving political office after 16 years in power on a high. The saying goes that all political careers end in failure, or to quote Tom Cruise in Cocktail: “everything ends badly, or it wouldn’t end” – but Merkel has bucked the trend and was ceremonially seen out by an incredibly unusual public military display on Thursday in Berlin.

Nowadays Germans are still somewhat reluctant to put on military displays of any kind ever, as you can imagine, so this was a very special event indeed and a mark of how secure this chancellor has made the country feel as it moved into the 21st century.

There are criticisms of the tight hold her party has enjoyed over German culture and society for best part of two decades, and the feeling that progressive change in a number of areas is very long overdue. It is hopefully coming now with a new coalition in charge. But still, all that aside, the affection for Merkel as a person and as a leader is undimmed.

And the rest of us have been catching up too, especially over the Covid-19 pandemic when her cool-headed, straight-talking approach sometimes felt like an immense relief wherever in the world you were. I have a lot of German family, and spend a great deal of time in Germany, so I have had an insight into a different way of leading than what is currently being imposed on the UK. When in March 2020 I was being told, according to the wildly optimistic tone set by Boris Johnson and co that I would be back on stage in the West End by June that year, I was also watching for Merkel’s reaction. She said very calmly in a press conference that this was only the start of a very, very long process. And I believed her, and though it was grim to hear it, there was some relief in feeling deep in my body that this was the truth.

And so as the months grind on, I was somehow prepared psychologically. Every time there is the threat of a new lockdown, I remember her cool eyes and her uncompromising words and I’m glad someone had the guts to say it. Goodbye Angela, and thanks for the leadership. It’s nice to know what it’s supposed to look like.