On a celebrity version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' in Germany, Conservative MP Wolfgang Bosbach calls Chancellor Angela Merkel as his phone a friend but she fails to answer.

A GERMAN politician hoping for help from Angela Merkel during a television quiz show was left disappointed when the chancellor failed to take his call.

Conservative MP Wolfgang Bosbach used his phone-a-friend lifeline to ring his party’s leader during a VIP version of the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

But Bosbach’s call for help in answering a question about East German washing machines failed after he twice got Merkel’s voicemail.

Toward the end of the show broadcast on Monday, Bosbach received a text message from Merkel apologising for not answering.

German news agency dpa quoted Bosbach as saying he wasn’t sure it would have been good to have had the chancellor pick up, as she might have chastised him for calling her about a quiz show question.

The German Chancellor has spoken about the nostalgia she feels for brands that she grew up with in the former German Democratic Republic. Around the time of the 20th anniversary of German reunification, she told a magazine that she remained loyal to a brand of washing up liquid made by an east German company.