‘Baron Cut-and-Paste’ quits as German minister

The man regarded as Germany's most popular politician, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg - now also known as Baron Cut-and-Paste - has been forced to resign as defence minister after it emerged that he stole large parts of his doctoral thesis.
 
The 39-year-old aristocrat was seen as the stand-out member of Angela Merkel's coalition government and was widely tipped to become Chancellor. However, he stepped down today after more than 50,000 academics signed a letter demanding his resignation.
 
Zu Guttenberg - aka Googleberg or Copyberg as the German press have dubbed him - was exposed as a plagiarist after a law professor from Bremen University began scrutinising his thesis, which had earned him a doctorate with honours from the University of Bayreuth in 2007.

It is now claimed that more than half of the 475-page document he submitted contained sections lifted from other people's work.
 
The scandal has dominated the German news and the pressure on Guttenberg went up a notch last week when the University of Bayreuth stripped him of his doctorate. The university said he had "seriously violated" its standards by failing to properly credit the source of his work.
 
Law professor Oliver Lepsius, who succeeded Guttenberg's supervisor at Bayreuth, said: "We have been taken by a fraud."
 
Guttenberg himself admitted he had made a "grave mistake" but initially vowed to remain in his post. He had the support of Chancellor Angela Merkel, even though he was not a member of her Christian Democrats but the Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, which is part of the ruling coalition.
 
Guttenberg, whose previous nickname was Baron Cool, thanks to his love of rock music and easy way with the public, eventually fell on his sword today. In his resignation speech, he commented: "I must agree with my enemies who say that I was not appointed minister for self-defence, but defence minister." ·