the then designated party leader Matthias Platzeck proposed the relatively unknown Heil as the candidate for the post of secretary general, after Franz Müntefering had resigned as SPD chairman and the initially nominated candidate Andrea Nahles, who had beaten Müntefering's candidate for that position in a vote of the party executive, had withdrawn from her candidacy. At the same time the party was forming a grand coalition government with Angela Merkel's CDU. Heil was elected new secretary general of the SPD, but he received only 61.2 percent of the votes, about 20 percent less than his predecessor Klaus Uwe Benneter. He later served under Platzeck (2005-2006) as well as under his successors Kurt Beck (2006-2008) and Müntefering (2008-2009). During that time, he oversaw the drafting process of the party's Hamburg Program, which has been the party platform since 2007. Following heavy losses in the 2009 federal election and CDU and FDP winning a majority, Heil did not run for the position again. Between 2009 and 2017, Heil served as deputy chairman of the SPD's parliamentary group, under the leadership of successive chairmen Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2009-2013) and Thomas Oppermann (2013-2017), the first four years in the opposition and the other four as a government party. In this capacity, he was a member of the working groups on energy policy and municipal policy from 2009 until 2013. He was also an advisory member of the Commission for Fundamental Values of the executive committee of the SPD, a body led by Gesine Schwan. In the negotiations to form a second grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel and return to the government following the 2013 federal elections, Heil led the SPD delegation in the working group on economic affairs; his co-chair from the CDU/CSU was Ilse Aigner. Shortly ahead of the 2017 elections, he was again appointed general secretary on acting basis by Martin Schulz because Katarina Barley left the office to be appointed a federal minister. In that capacity Heil organised the campaign and contributed to the manifesto of Schulz. In the negotiations to form the third grand coalition under Merkel, he led the working group on education policy, alongside Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Stefan Müller and Manuela Schwesig. Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, 2018–present Since becoming Minister of Labour and Social Affairs when the SPD joined the fourth Merkel cabinet in a grand coalition following the 2017 German federal election, Heil has overseen