A sure-footed captain with a steady hand at the wheel is seen as ideal to run a country’s economy, so Germany’s economy minister Peter Altmaier may struggle to pick himself up after his disastrous tumble from a stage on Tuesday.

Altmaier, who is Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, was rendered unconscious after he fell from the stage at a conference in Dortmund. The politician then regained consciousness and was chatting after his impromptu dive into the front row, but the full extent of the damage to his reputation has yet to be assessed.

The minister’s unfortunate stumble came after concluding his remarks on a proposal for cloud-based data storage. He has thanked medics from the event who treated him and he is now recovering in hospital.

A doctor in the audience reportedly rushed to treat the stricken speaker. TV footage showed the 61-year-old stepping down from the podium at the end of his speech. The feed then cut to the audience applauding, before they gasped and their hands went to their mouths at the sight of his fall.

Dortmund'daki konferansta konuşmasını yaptıktan sonra yerine geçmek isteyen Almanya Enerji ve Ekonomi Bakanı Peter Altmaier, tökezleyerek düştü. Düşüş anı kameralara böyle yansıdı pic.twitter.com/Gd8S9qeNia — Noluyor (@Noluyortv) October 29, 2019

The audience was asked to clear the room while he received treatment and the event was briefly suspended, but resumed after Altmaier was taken to hospital.

“Given the circumstances, he’s doing correspondingly well,” the economy ministry said in the emailed statement.

Online commenters were less sympathetic to the fallen politician, and it didn’t take long before the memes and mockery descended upon Twitter.

The German minister’s stumble echoes the famous fall made by then-Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole when he fell off a stage at a campaign rally in 1996.

The incident brought closer scrutiny on 73-year-old Dole’s age and is seen as helping Democrat Bill Clinton secure the White House.

Altmaier is also not the only German politician to endure public scrutiny after bouts of public imbalance, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been seen shaking during several high profile meetings with foreign leaders.

Also on rt.com Angela Merkel is ‘feeling well’ despite THIRD BOUT of shaking, spokesperson insists

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