Angela Merkel’s government is to reconsider a controversial promotion for Germany’s outspoken domestic intelligence chief, further threatening the unity of the chancellor's fragile coalition.

Hans-Georg Maassen was removed as head of the BfV intelligence service this week amid concerns he was interfering in politics after he publicly contradicted the chancellor over far-Right protests in the city of Chemnitz.

Mr Maassen’s fate has already divided Mrs Merkel’s coalition partners. The centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) demanded his dismissal while Horst Seehofer, the interior minister and leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), backed the intelligence chief.

Under a compromise deal designed to keep all sides happy, Mr Maassen was due to move to a more senior position at the interior ministry. But in a sign of growing tensions within the coalition, the SPD demanded a rethink on Friday amid growing public opposition.

“The consistently negative reactions from the population show that we were wrong, and that we lost trust instead of restoring it, which should give us cause to pause and reconsider,” Andrea Nahles, the SPD leader, wrote in a letter to her coalition partners.