Senior SPD figures hold talks on candidate for chancellor amid speculation about switch to popular defence minister

Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is under mounting pressure to step aside as his party’s candidate for the job in February’s snap election in favour of his defence minister, Boris Pistorius, the most popular politician in the country.

The top brass of the Social Democratic party (SPD) are planning crisis talks on their choice of chancellor candidate for the 23 February general election on Tuesday evening while Scholz is flying home from the G20 summit in Brazil, local media reported.