As the bagpipes struck up, the crowds started to clap rhythmically and a beaming David McAllister, flanked by bodyguards, appeared to float into the room through a sea of orange and blue placards that read „I am a Mac“.

Having checked that Apple never patented the slogan in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) adopted it as the campaign slogan for the man seen as the future of the party and the most obvious successor to chancellor Angela Merkel.