Sebastian Kurz departure is further blow to Europe’s centre-right

Resignation of Austrian chancellor follows Germany's CDU crashing to its worst federal election result

Europe's ailing centre-right is mourning the departure of a second high-profile conservative leader in the space of a month, as Austria's chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, on Saturday evening announced he would resign over allegations he encouraged the use of public funds to buy himself positive media coverage.

The fall from grace of the 35-year-old leader of the Austrian People's party (OVP) comes just weeks after its German sister party failed to fill the space left by the outgoing chancellor, Angela Merkel, and crashed to the worst result in its history at federal elections.