COLLEAGUES DESCRIBE her as a classy and classic social democrat. After a series of humiliating electoral defeats, Europe’s left at last has something to cheer after the narrow victory on Thursday of Helle Thorning-Schmidt in Denmark’s general election.
Today Denmark’s first female prime minister begins the delicate task of forging a new centre-left government. The Social Democrat leader and daughter-in-law of British politicians Neil and Glenys Kinnock won a wafer-thin majority over the centre-right coalition of Lars Lokke Rasmussen, bringing down the curtain on decade of Liberal-Conservative rule.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt told Danish TV her priority was to “get a grip on the economy”. She is likely to lead a coalition of her Social Democrats with the Social People’s party, Social Liberals and Red-Green Alliance. The Red Greens are expected to try to pull Ms Thorning-Schmidt further to the left in return for their parliamentary support.
After leading in the polls, she secured a mere five-seat majority in the 179-seat parliament. Critics predict inevitable tensions with her coalition partners could mean Denmark’s new, progressive government and its softer line on immigration is short-lived.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt grew up in Ishoj, south-west of Copenhagen, which expanded during the 1970s construction boom and saw a large influx of migrant workers from Turkey. She described Ishoj as a model of “how the welfare society grew and created new opportunities for people who hadn’t experienced that kind of prosperity”. Today Ishoj has a different reputation as a concrete ghetto with gang problems.
She met Kinnock in the early 1990s when they were students at the College of Europe in Bruges. She served one term as an MEP between 1999 and 2004, becoming Social Democrat leader in 2005. With Helle in Copenhagen, Stephen lived much of the time in Switzerland working for the World Economic Forum.
For high-powered Euro-couples, this arrangement is usual. But it provoked embarrassing questions last year from Denmark’s tax authorities, as well as unfounded tabloid rumours about the state of the marriage.
Denis MacShane, the former UK Europe minister, called her “steady, serious” and liked inside the European social democrat political network. “She is a well organised mother and other than a fondness for wearing red she is more interested in political ideas than what she is wearing.” MacShane is alluding to the nickname “Gucci Helle”, a reference to her alleged fondness for expensive clothes.
More damaging, perhaps, is the accusation that she is a lightweight. Sociologist Henrik Dahl called her "the weakest leader the party has ever had". "She can't write or improvise ... She doesn't possess presence or any larger vision." – ( Guardianservice)