Merkel kept decision to quit a secret for months
Angela Merkel is good at keeping a secret. The decision by the German Chancellor to step down as chairman of her Christian Democratic party caught markets, and even her closest allies, by surprise.
Turns out, the longest-serving leader of the Group of Seven had been plotting it all along. In a packed news conference on Monday, she revealed that she had decided before the summer break in July to quit as party chief. Her original plan was to announce it at a retreat this coming weekend in Berlin.
All this was news, until late Monday night, to party general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a confidante Dr Merkel has groomed as a potential heir.
