Schulz, left, is modelling is his campaign on Corbyn’s

First they sang: “Oooh, Jeremy Corbyn!” Now it may be: “Aaah, Martin Schulz!”

The cropped beard, the red tie, the white shirt, the dark suit: the opposition leader vying for power in Germany has adopted the “Jezza” look — and the Labour leader’s left-wing politics — to woo voters.

Schulz, like Corbyn, used to be the butt of jokes. After a makeover and a lurch to the left, however, he has wrong-footed the formidable woman in Berlin’s seat of power — a much tougher task than discomfiting Theresa May.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was outmanoeuvred by Schulz into conceding a free vote in parliament on Friday that legalised gay marriage despite her own opposition, which has long blocked a reform that the rest of