Conservative People's Party (Denmark)

The Conservative People's Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti), also known as Conservatives (Konservative) is a Danish political party. The party was founded 1915 based mostly on its predecessor, Højre (Right), but also on the Free Conservatives and a moderate fraction of Venstre, the liberals.

The party has participated in several coalition governments, but only one Prime Minister (statsminister in Danish), Poul Schlüter, has come from this party, serving from 1982 to 1993. The youth branch of the Conservative People's Party, albeit an independent organisation, is Young Conservatves, the earliest formed youth organisation in Denmark, founded in December 1904, and believed to be one of the oldest in the world, preceding the Conservative People's Party by 10 years. The student branch is Conservative Students, likewise an independent organisation, which has branches at all Danish Universities.

Since 2001, the Conservative People's Party has been the junior partner in a coalition government led by Venstre (literally "left", but in Denmark meaning "Liberals"). The Conservative People's Party is currently led by Lene Espersen, who serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Business and Economics.

The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). In the 2004 election for the European Parliament, the party won a seat. The member is currently Christian F. Rovsing, who is a member of the EPP-ED group

In the 2007 election for the Folketing (Danish national parliament), the Conservative People's Party won 18 seats, the same number it won in the previous election, and it received 10.4% of the vote. In the 2007 election, it placed fifth behind Venstre, the Social Democrats, the Socialist People's Party and the Danish People's Party.

Relationship to other parties

Although the Social Democrats are currently speaking of the possibility of a broad centrist coalition including the Conservatives, the Conservatives appear to remain committed to a right-of-centre alliance, working most closely with the liberal Venstre and somewhat less closely with the Danish People's Party. The Conservatives did cooperate with the Social Liberals during its time in power in the 1980s.

International comparison

The Conservative People's Party is a party that extolls the virtues of capitalism in a land of social democracy, but it is not considered an especially radical party, being quite moderated by the popularity of the welfare state in Denmark. Thus, the Conservative People's Party is somewhat close to the mainstream of European conservatives, with an extra liberal streak. Comparisons could be drawn with the reformists within the Sarkozy government in France or David Cameron's Conservatives in the United Kingdom.

List of leaders

Political leaders

John Christmas Møller	1928-1947
Ole Bjørn Kraft	1947-1955
Aksel Møller	1955-1958
Poul Sørensen	1958-1969
Poul Møller	1969-1971
Erik Ninn-Hansen	1971-1974
Poul Schlüter	1974-1993
Henning Dyremose	1993
Hans Engell	1993-1997
Per Stig Møller	1997-1998
Pia Christmas-Møller	1998-1999
Bendt Bendtsen	1999-2008
Lene Espersen	2008-

Party chairmen

Emil Piper	1916-28
Charles Tvede	1928-32
John Christmas Møller	1932-39
Vilhelm Fibiger	1939-48
Halfdan Hendriksen	1948-57
Einar Foss	1957-65
Knud Thestrup	1965-72
Erik Haunstrup Clemmensen	1972-74
Poul Schlüter	1974-77
Ib Stetter	1977-81
Poul Schlüter	1981-93
Torben Rechendorff	1993-95
Hans Engell	1995-97
Per Stig Møller	1997-98
Poul Andreassen	1998-00
Bendt Bendtsen	2000-

Youth and student wings

• Young Conservatives (Konservativ Ungdom)
• Conservative Students (Konservative Studerende)

Famous members

• John Christmas Møller - wartime resistance figure

External links

Official website