Departure of a farsighted European statesman

HELMUT Schmidt, West German chancellor between 1974 and 1982, who died on Tuesday aged 96, carried with him to the end the hallmark and allure of a European statesman. His passing marks the fourth demise in less than a year of a batch of illustrious German and British monetary figures who played exceptional roles in shaping European finance in the 1970s and 1980s.

The talented and often quarrelsome quartet - Mr Schmidt, Denis Healey, Geoffrey Howe and Karl Otto Pöhl - were linked in inextricable fashion. It is probably not an exaggeration to say we will not see again a combination quite like this.

Mr Healey, UK chancellor of the exchequer between 1974 and 1979, who died last month aged 98, was an old friend and sparring partner of Mr Schmidt. Both men were drawn together by their common interest in defence and Atlantic ties as well as finance. They shared a love of music and excoriating memories of service on opposite sides in the Second World War.