A two-person talks openly about their frustration with politics: "I don't think I deserved to be pissed on any more"

Friday, November 29, 2024 • 7:37 PM UTC - in Politics

Jakob Ellemann-Jensen Speaks Out on Why He Left Politics: 'I Didn't Deserve to Be Put Through More'

Jakob Ellemann-Jensen now admits that he had planned to retire after the next election, but ended up leaving earlier.

Ellemann expresses regret over his ultimate statement that he would never make Mette Frederiksen prime minister, calling it 'the greatest regret' of his life. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix) 58 minutes ago

It has been over a year since Jakob Ellemann-Jensen stepped down as party leader. Since then, there have been rumors about the former vice-minister and defense minister.

He has traveled around Australia in a camper with his family and has been thinking about what he will do next.

He has taken a vice-presidency position at Dansk Erhverv for the same reason he entered politics: He wants to work on something that makes the world a better place.

But politics is completely over for him.

- I feel like I've paid my dues, if you can put it that way. I did my part. Now it's time for others to step up, he says in an interview on P1's Ugens Gæst.

Ellemann talks about why he left Danish politics and about the last days as party leader.

On his departure from Danish politics, he concludes:

- I don't think I deserved to be put through more. I couldn't hold out.

Would you have stepped forward and declared yourself as a prime minister candidate, and within seconds, even if there was a blue majority, have you withdrawn?

- My intention was to withdraw after the next parliamentary election. If the liberal utopia had suddenly come true, and we had 99 percent support, I couldn't have been the one to announce it.

So it wasn't ultimately for you to withdraw?

- I think I've learned the hard way - and with the greatest regret in my entire life - not to be ultimate, he says with reference to his statement during the 2022 campaign that he would never make Mette Frederiksen prime minister. He eventually did so.

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'Was it worth it?'

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When Ellemann returns to Christiansborg on August 1, 2023, he feels that he himself is in the way of Venstre's progress.

- I could sense that there were some things that had shifted a little in the meantime. There might have been some who had their eyes open to the fact that the world could be different with me at the helm.

Is it internal in Venstre?

- Yes, it's internal in Venstre, he says without mentioning which Venstre politicians he is referring to.

He remembers an article in Ekstra Bladet (https://ekstrabladet.dk/nyheder/politik/danskpolitik/exit-ellemann-ulmer-tilliden-er-vaek/9988285) - almost symbolically - on Friday, October 13, 2023. In it, several anonymous members of Venstre's parliamentary group expressed their loss of trust in Ellemann as party leader.

- He will never be prime minister for anything. He can't even lead Venstre, cites Ekstra Bladet an anonymous Venstre parliamentarian.

Jakob Ellemann-Jensen returns to the Ministry of Defense and to Christiansborg on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

That same evening, Ellemann talks to his wife about withdrawing as party leader.

- I didn't want anyone to come and tell me to leave. I wanted to leave while I still had the dignity to do so. I wanted to go with pride, straight back, he says.

Do you feel that the support is slipping away from you?

- It had been on the decline for some time. I could fight my way through it. But was it worth it? What would the costs be for Venstre? What would the costs be for the government? What would the costs be for me?

- Therefore, I decided to say: 'I'm stopping here'.

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No Regrets

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Ellemann believes that it was his statements about not making Mette Frederiksen prime minister that cost him his political life.

But when he said it, he believed it, he insists.

He thought Frederiksen's statement about a center-right government was sincere. After all, there had just been a poll showing a blue majority.

On the other hand, he also believes that all the other blue party leaders had said that he was not to be counted on if he did not exclude going into government with Mette Frederiksen.

But he wishes he hadn't been so definitive. For he thinks that the decision to join the SVM government was the right one.

- Should I say that my pride prevents me from doing the right thing because I was a fool and said the wrong thing? No, that's not it.

- And there are many who come and say: 'We would have preferred a blue government'. Yes, that's what the voters would have preferred. But there wasn't a blue majority, he says.

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Teflon and Toughness

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Despite a somewhat tumultuous ending to Danish politics, Ellemann looks back on his career with pride.

But he is still quite ultimate – despite his bad experiences with being it – about not returning to Danish politics again.

At Venstre's land meeting on November 18, 2023, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen officially handed over the party leadership to Troels Lund Poulsen. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

Politics, according to Ellemann, is set up so that when you're the leader, everyone is with you when things go well. But there are still some who conspire about how and why they will knife you when things don't go well.

- My former colleagues, who have driven it to something and sit in government leadership, have a teflon, they have a toughness that allows them to take it. I admire it wildly. I don't understand it at all. It scares me a little, he says.

And for the first time, he reveals that he actually wrote a book during his sick leave in the summer of 2023. It was supposed to be published at Venstre's land meeting in November 2023. In the book, he put his thoughts on Venstre and Denmark into words.

But the book never sees the light of day, he says:

- The book is lying really, really nicely at home, and it won't be published.

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