The secrets of the Saarland

AT THE END of the annual Munich Security Conference on February 17th, most of the foreign- and security-policy elites in attendance jetted back to their countries. But Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the pluri-syllabic new leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), motored instead to St Ingbert, a sleepy town in western Germany. There the front-runner to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor donned an apron and headcloth and, pushing a mop around a stage, performed a comedy routine as her alter ego, Gretl, a wisecracking cleaning lady with a thick Saarland accent. To laughter from the audience of local residents and politicians at the carnival-season Volksfest, “Gretl” grumbled about the wiles of federal politics: “What a mess,” she despaired, divulging that she had been sent to Berlin to clean it all up.