The last time a party won an outright majority in a German election was in 1957, under the Christian Democrat leader Konrad Adenauer. Another four-year term for Mrs Merkel, would ultimately see her eclipse Margaret Thatcher as the European Union’s longest serving female head of government. The eurozone crisis has hit the careers of other European leaders, but not that of the Protestant pastor’s daughter from East Germany. Her current centre-Right coalition partners, the Free Democrats (FDP), were heading for a bad night however, with just 4.7 per cent of yesterday’s vote, according to the exit poll — too little even to enter the German parliament.