After his ‘treachery’ in the Daily Telegraph affair Bülow’s days as Reich Chancellor were clearly numbered. Encouraged by Max Fürstenberg and other ‘pro-Kaiser loyalists’, Wilhelm II allowed himself to be carried away by the idea that the interview in the London newspaper had been a trap deliberately set for him by Bülow in order to bring universal disgrace on him and seize power for himself. He complained bitterly that the affair had

At first he showed little of his change of attitude towards the Chancellor, but the intimate trust that had formed the basis of their close relationship since 1897 had been completely destroyed. When the Reichstag rejected the Finance Reform bill on 24 June 1909 and Bülow handed in his resignation, Wilhelm immediately accepted it, in spite of the obvious danger that sacking the Chancellor after a defeat in parliament might give the appearance that the Reich was sliding towards parliamentary forms. The irresponsible manner in which the new Reich Chancellor and Prussian minister-president was appointed shows very plainly, however, that the power of the Crown was wholly undiminished in this decisive respect.