Preben Bang Henriksen rises from his seat in the square table arrangement in Venstre’s group room. Earlier, a majority of his 17 party colleagues voted to exclude him from Venstre’s parliamentary group.

- When I’m five meters from the door, I can hear someone start clapping, Preben Bang Henriksen says the day after.

Spontaneous applause began as a sign of respect and thanks for the efforts of the 72-year-old North Jutland politician. But Preben Bang Henriksen walks toward the door with his back to his party colleagues, so he cannot see who is clapping. Or who is keeping their hands completely still.

But he wouldn’t exactly call it resounding applause.

- It wasn’t applause like at the Idrætsparken stadium. It was scattered applause, Bang Henriksen notes with a wry smile.

One of his now former party colleagues, who was in the group room, describes the applause somewhat differently: It was Anni Matthiesen who spontaneously started it, the source says. And the room joined in clapping out of respect for their recently excluded colleague.

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Not shaken

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Preben Bang emphasizes that he did not walk toward the door with trembling steps, even though his own party colleagues had just voted him out. Not just out of the parliamentary group. But as a consequence, also out of the Venstre party.

- I was absolutely not shaken. I think everyone will say that. I was completely relaxed, says Preben Bang Henriksen.

That same morning, one could also sense a certain calmness about the lawyer from Aalborg. He had invited the local TV station TV2 Nord along on a reporting trip to Copenhagen, and now gave an interview at Aalborg Airport about his expectations for the day’s group meeting.

- I have been in the Folketing for more than 15 years, and I think I can say that today is a bit special. I don’t think I have ever been so nervous about the outcome as I am today, he said to TV2 Nord (https://www.tv2nord.dk/nordjylland/soren-gade-er-velkommen-hos-stojberg-207e9?p=12718978).

Together with Søren Gade, Amanda Heitmann, Anni Matthiesen, and Peter Juel-Jensen, Preben Bang Henriksen voted against the party line on the fertilizer law in September. Søren Gade had taken the consequence and left Danish politics. Both because he disagreed with party chairman Troels Lund Poulsen’s greener political shift away from agriculture – and to avoid being “a stone in the shoe” of that same Venstre chairman’s black leather shoes.

But after months of massive unrest in Venstre, Troels Lund Poulsen wanted the backing of the party’s leading bodies to expel those parliamentary members who did not support his line.

Troels Lund got the green light at a main board meeting in Nyborg on Sunday:

- The main board expects that Venstre’s parliamentary group will in future stand and vote together on the decisions that achieve a majority in the parliamentary group, read the conclusion of the statement from Venstre’s Main Board.

And at a subsequent press conference, Troels Lund Poulsen made it clear that Venstre is in “a difficult situation,” with too much “unrest and internal disagreement about the political line.”

- Today I have made it clear that I will not lead a parliamentary group that votes in all directions. In the current situation, there is a clear need for it to be strongly emphasized, as has been done here today, said Troels Lund Poulsen, adding that as a member of parliament for Venstre, you are part of “a binding community.”

- If you do not want that, then you must take the consequence, Troels Lund Poulsen stated as a forewarning of what happened at Christiansborg two days later.

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One by one

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When Venstre’s 18 parliamentary members take their seats yesterday around the square table, the statement from the Main Board is passed around on a piece of paper.

- Then we had to take a position one by one on what we thought about the statement, Preben Bang recounts.

- When it was my turn, I stood up and said that I interpret it as meaning that by voting in favor, you agree that we must adapt to the majority’s decision. And that was nodded to from the leadership, says Preben Bang Henriksen, adding:

- That would in reality mean the leadership’s decision. And you had to promise that in advance. So then I said that if that’s how it’s to be understood, then I will vote no, Preben Bang Henriksen recounts.

After everyone – except Preben Bang – has indicated that they support the proposal, Troels Lund Poulsen stands up to conclude:

- Troels takes the floor and says: There is only one who cannot agree. But it is crucial for me that one agrees. And then he looks at me and says that this means either you resign your mandate, or you risk being excluded, Preben Bang Henriksen reports.

- I replied that I will not resign my mandate, but I will not comment on the exclusion. Then Troels says: “Yes, then we meet here at 4:45 PM for an extraordinary meeting with one item on the agenda.”

The nearly two-hour group meeting ends – and there is now just under an hour until the group meeting is to resume with a single item on the agenda: A written – and thus secret – vote on Preben Bang Henriksen’s future.

Preben Bang Henriksen wanders out to the many journalists who have taken position outside the group room. There he delivers the same message he just gave his party chairman:

- I have told the group that I will not deposit my vote with a majority in the group.

(© Daan Johannes Wilhelmus Bach, DR)

While Preben Bang speaks to the press, Troels Lund Poulsen walks past behind him, glancing a little at the scene.

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Hug from the Prime Minister

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A few minutes later, Preben Bang Henriksen has trudged up toward his office.

By chance, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen suddenly passes by in the hallway. She looks at him with a comforting gaze, throws her arms around him, and expresses her sympathy.

- I don’t know what’s happening with you. But you get a hug, says Mette Frederiksen.

Both are from Aalborg, both are elected in North Jutland, and therefore know each other well.

(© Daan Johannes Wilhelmus Bach, DR)

The second group meeting is over in a few minutes.

- We come in and sit down, and then the party secretary goes around handing out ballots. Then Morten Dahlin (group chairman, ed.) says that now you vote yes if you want Preben excluded, and no if you don’t. So I write a big no. And what others wrote, I didn’t try to see, Preben Bang Henriksen recounts.

The protagonist’s ‘no’ has no effect, however. The ballots are counted by a secretary and a party secretary. Group chairman Morten Dahlin tallies the result:

- He says that there is the necessary majority for exclusion. Then I say: May we hear the vote counts? Morten Dahlin then replies: No, we don’t use that in Venstre when it’s a personal vote, Preben Bang Henriksen recounts, adding that there is indeed that rule in Venstre with the purpose of protecting those who have lost a vote concerning their person.

- But here it is the loser himself, that is me, who asks for the result. So I just have to say that I don’t think the argument holds there. But so be it, says Preben Bang Henriksen.

Back in the group room, Preben Bang has just received the decision.

- So I don’t wait for two police officers to come and escort me out, smiles the long-time legal affairs spokesperson and lawyer.

He stands up and takes the floor in Venstre’s group for the last time. After 15 years as a member of parliament, he says to his party colleagues:

- Before I go, I would like to say thank you for the good cooperation. Thank you for the good friendship. I hope it continues. I assume that I will vote with Venstre in the future, but I would like to see the proposals we are to vote on first, Preben Bang Henriksen recounts.

For the second time, he walks out of the group room as the first. And only manages to hear the applause with his back turned, before he steps out the door in his new capacity as an independent in the Folketing.

At the top of Venstre, neither Troels Lund Poulsen nor Morten Dahlin have wished to give an interview about the process surrounding the exclusion of Preben Bang Henriksen. The party’s press department writes:

- Venstre’s press service states that they never comment on internal group meetings.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.