Things are not quiet in Venstre these days.
The party achieved its worst-ever election result, but has still managed to sink even further in the polls. Historically far down, in fact.
And internally in the parliamentary group, it has also been far from quiet. Five whole members of parliament went directly against the party line and chairman Troels Lund Poulsen when voting on a new nitrogen law for agriculture.
A critical portrait of one of the five in Jyllands-Posten – the high-profile Søren Gade – brought the temperature to boiling point when Gade subsequently lashed out at party colleagues who had contributed anonymously to the portrait. Gade had "powerful enemies" in Venstre, he believed.
Now Søren Gade is completely done in Parliament. He has resigned with immediate effect due to the disagreements with the party leadership.
Søren Gade has given his party chairman, Troels Lund Poulsen, plenty of furrowed brows lately. He was among those leading the internal opposition to the party line in the matter of a new nitrogen law for agriculture. Now he is finished in Parliament. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)
This leaves Troels Lund Poulsen at the helm of a party in crisis, which he himself has declared is embarking on a "journey" that is supposed to move the party away from its close ties to agriculture, but which has also brought him into conflict with parts of the party.
He is to take an important step on that journey on Sunday.
For on Sunday, Troels Lund Poulsen has summoned his grassroots in the form of Venstre's large main board to an extraordinary meeting with only one item on the agenda – besides welcome and any other business: The current political situation.
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Swimwear or woolly socks
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The Venstre leadership has been reluctant to say much about the meeting, which is being held in Nyborg, but in a written comment a week ago, when the meeting was called, deputy chair Stephanie Lose explained it like this:
- After some tough weeks for Venstre, it is natural to come together and discuss the way forward.
One of those who will attend the meeting on Sunday is Jens Nicolai Vejlgaard, the chairman of Venstre in the Central Jutland Region.
He has no doubt about what he wants from the extraordinary meeting.
- The political direction… I look forward to learning a bit more about it. Finding out where the journey is heading. Should we bring swimwear or woolly socks?
- We need to go in a greener direction, I think everyone in Venstre agrees on that. We need to take care of our drinking water, animals, land, soil, and fish. But I look forward to being told concretely where the journey is going, he says.
But even though he does not think the direction is very clear, he has confidence that Troels Lund Poulsen can chart it.
- I have full trust that my chairman can lay out a travel plan.
Venstre's main board consists of more than 100 elected Venstre members, including chairs of the party's local branches, chairs of regional boards, and representatives from the parliamentary group.
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Expectation of support
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According to DR's political correspondent, Christine Cordsen, the meeting for Troels Lund Poulsen is about securing full backing now, before the party holds its national congress in less than a month.
- That support is something he is likely to receive, she says.
At the same time, the meeting should give the main board members an opportunity to voice their concerns about the serious crisis the party is in.
- Or put another way: to let off some steam.
Venstre recently had the worst opinion poll in all the time Epinion has been conducting polls for DR. Only 5.8 percent would vote for the party if there were an election now. See here how historically poorly Venstre is polling:
And it is important for the party chairman that he has full backing from his main board before he delivers a speech at the national congress next month, where he will lay down the political line, Cordsen assesses.
- Troels Lund Poulsen has said several times that going forward he expects everyone in the parliamentary group to vote in favour when the party has entered into a political agreement.
- With full backing for the line from the main board, Troels Lund Poulsen will also have support to potentially punish members of parliament who will not fall in line, she says.
Such a punishment could, for example, be to strip MPs of their spokesperson roles, just as the main board, in the last resort, could expel people for conduct harmful to the party.
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Dramatic meetings
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This is not the first time in Venstre's recent history that the main board has been called to an extraordinary meeting during a crisis in the party.
For in recent decades, high-tension meetings of the main board have been at the center of some of the most dramatic events in Danish politics. Both in 2014 and in 2019.
Both times, incidentally, with former Venstre chairman Lars Løkke Rasmussen at the center of events.
In 2014, critical stories about Løkke and his relationship with Venstre's party coffers had been running in the media for some time. Among other things, Venstre had bought clothes for the chairman.
Several members of parliament publicly demanded that Løkke step down as chairman. They instead wanted deputy chairman Kristian Jensen at the helm.
It all culminated at a main board meeting in Odense. Leading up to the meeting, several media outlets had learned that Løkke would resign from the post. However, he did not.
Instead, during a break in the main board meeting, he managed to make a deal with Kristian Jensen, who was otherwise aiming to become chairman. A deal that allowed Løkke to remain at the head of the party.
Kristian Jensen and Lars Løkke Rasmussen held a joint press conference in Odense in 2014, after Løkke had rather surprisingly managed to retain the chairmanship of Venstre. (Photo: © Niels Ahlmann Olesen, Ritzau Scanpix)
Five years later, in 2019, it was finally time for Løkke to step down from the chairman post. Also after heavy pressure from influential Venstre figures – including the party's current deputy chair, Stephanie Lose.
It also culminated at an extraordinary main board meeting, where Løkke informed his party colleagues that he was leaving the post. And then he slipped out the back door, where a car was waiting to pick him up, so he could avoid the waiting journalists.
Instead, he posted his own version of events on Twitter:
- Important to hold on to one's self-respect. Cannot be chairman of a party where I, as chairman, am cut off from my opportunity to have the political line I have laid out discussed and tested in the national congress forum where I am elected. Thank you for many good years, he wrote at the time.
However, the same violent drama surrounding the chairman post should not be expected this time.
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