German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said today he had dismissed Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping who had come under fire over suspect income two months before the general election.
Mr Schroeder told an impromptu news conference in Berlin he would ask the President Johannes Rau to relieve Mr Scharping of his duties and replace him with Mr Peter Struck, parliamentary floor leader of his Social Democrat Party (SPD).
Lagging the opposition conservatives in polls ahead of the September 22nd election, Mr Schroeder had convened a meeting of the party's leadership to discuss the affair, which had threatened to dent his already flagging hopes of winning a second term.
The sacking brings to eight the number of ministers Mr Schroeder has lost since coming to power in 1998 and is the first cabinet departure since the chancellor sacked his health and agriculture ministers in January 2001.
Mr Scharping, who has repeatedly attracted negative headlines in recent years - as much for his love life as for his handling of defence matters - had rejected media speculation there was anything amiss with payments he admitted receiving from a public relations firm during his early years as a minister.
