Kirsten Jacobsen ( Larsen; 18 February 1942 – 2 December 2010) was a Danish real estate agent and politician who was an elected member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

for the

North Jutland County North Jutland County ( da, Nordjyllands Amt) is a former county (Danish: ''amt'') in northern Denmark. It was located on the eastern half of Vendsyssel-Thy and the northernmost part of the Jutland peninsula. It was the largest county in Denmark, ...

constituency for two non-consecutive periods from 1973 to 1981 and then between 1988 and 2001. She was first a member of the Progress Party, the Freedom 2000 Group an independent and The Conservative People's Party. Jacobsen was also a member of both the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

and the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...

. She was leader of the Progress Party from 1995 to 1997. Jacobsen was appointed

Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

in 1991 and was upgraded to Knight First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog five years later.

Early life

On 18 February 1942, Jacobsen was born in

Aalborg Hospital Aalborg University Hospital is the largest hospital in the North Denmark Region, Denmark. It is also northern Jutland's largest employer, with approximately 6,500 employees. The hospital consists of Section South and North in Aalborg and Dronn ...

in Aalborg; she regularly maintained that she was born in

Nørresundby Nørresundby () is a city in Aalborg Municipality, north of Limfjorden, in Vendsyssel, in Denmark. The urban area has a population of 23,718 (1 January 2021). It is located just north of Aalborg, which lies south of Limfjorden. Statistically its ...

. She was the third of five children of the dairy worker and depot manager Børge Larsen and Helene Bånd-Larsen. Jacobsen was raised in the family home, Nordenfjord at Nørresundby, where her father was custodian. She worked at her father's ice cream family as well as delivering their products and cared for her younger siblings after her mother fell ill. Jacobsen became a member of the Young Conservatives when she was 14 years old and was able to train as an authorised state real estate agent at an educational law firm in 1970. She also attended Aalborg Business School.

Career

Jacobsen became a member of the newly founded Progress Party in 1972, and was elected to represent the

constituency in the

, a seat she held from 4 December 1973 to 7 December 1981. She was one of 28 Progress Party politicians to be elected to the Folketing. During her first term, she became a member of the

between 1973 and 1981, and of the

from 25 April 1977 to 21 April 1980, variously as a substitute and as a representative. Jacobsen was able to become deputy chair of Parliament's Housing Committee, the Political-Economic Committee as well as the Tax Committee due to her interest in those fields. She was deputy chair of Progress Party's parliamentary group between 1975 and 1976. Jacobsen resigned from the Folketing in 1981 because of ill health. She moved to Oslo in 1982, but returned to

Blokhus Blokhus is a village in North Jutland, Denmark. It is located in Jammerbugt Municipality. Blokhus is a popular beach town with around 1 million visitors every year. History Blokhus was originally named ''Hune Hvarre''. In the early 1600s there w ...

after four months. Jacobsen was re-elected to the Folketing again for the North Jutland County constituency in the

1988 Danish general election General elections were held in Denmark on 10 May 1988, Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p. 525 just seven months after the last elections. Prime Minister Poul Schlüter chose to call for an electio ...

on 10 May. She returned to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the period from 30 January 1989 to 1 January 1990, and returned to the Nordic Council as a deputy starting in 1990. Jacobsen felt she was ignored by the party leader

Helge Dohrmann Helge Dohrmann (1939–1989) was a Danish politician who was one of the leading figures of the Progress Party. He was a long-term member of the Danish Parliament where he represented the party from 1973 to his death in 1989. Biography Dohrmann ...

; she was group chair for one week, feeling unsuited to a leadership role. She was a political rapporteur for the financial sector and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, a member of the Business Ministers' Idea Group regarding Real Estate Trading as well as of the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an inter-parliamentary institution, international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and coop ...

and of the parliamentary inquiry committee regarding Spar Nord's purchase of in 1994. From 27 December 1990 to 1 October 1996, she was a member of the and became close friends with

Lilli Gyldenkilde Lilli Helletofte Gyldenkilde (13 February 1936 – 8 August 2003) was a Danish politician who served as a member of the Folketing and a Member of the European Parliament. Born in Horsens, Gyldenkilde was raised by her grandparents. She attended s ...

of the Socialist People's Party in the process, leading to the television programme ''Ask Lilli and Kirsten''. In 1995, Jacobsen was made leader of the Progress Party following the establishment of the

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

Pia Kjærsgaard Pia Merete Kjærsgaard (; born 23 February 1947) is a Danish politician who was Speaker of the Danish Parliament from 2015 to 2019, and former leader of the Danish People's Party. She is a co-founder of the Danish People's Party, and led the ...

. She resigned the leadership in 1997 when her husband became quite unwell. At the

1998 Danish general election General elections were held in Denmark on 11 March 1998.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p525 Although the centre-right parties led by Venstre had been expected to win, the Social Democratic Party- ...

, her large number of personal votes was enough to allow the Progress Party to remain represented in the Folketing with two seats. The result was enough to make Jacobsen one of Denmark's top three voted on politicians. She notified the party's parliamentary group and her constituency in November 1998 that she would step down the following year to enable her to spend more time with her family and friends. When this was announced, Jacobsen and three other party members formed the Freedom 2000 group in protest of

Mogens Glistrup Mogens Glistrup (28 May 1926 in Rønne – 1 July 2008 in Virum) was a Danish politician, lawyer and tax protester. He founded the Progress Party, and was a member of the Folketing (1973–1983 and 1987–1990). He had his parliamentary immunity ...

returning to the Progress Party. She became an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

in February 2001 and left the Folketing at the

2001 Danish general election General elections were held in Denmark on 20 November 2001.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p525 For the first time since the 1924 elections, the Social Democrats did not win the most seats. Anders ...

that 20 November. During her career, Jacobsen established an alternative complaints centre that received 6,000 enquries per year from citizens. This enabled her to know what the population were thinking of. In 1998, she authored her biography, ''Kirsten''. In it, Jacobsen says she did not join other parties while in parliament due to their higher levels of discipline. She was named Politician of the Year in 1993. Jacobsen became a member of The Conservative People's Party in 2008.

Personal life

From 21 May 1960 to their divorce in 1972, she was married to the electric wholesaler Niels Willum Wisbech Jacobsen. They had three children. Jacobsen remarried to the Norwegian real estate agent Erik Stormfelt on 30 June 1979 and remained married until his death on 20 December 1997. She was appointed

in 1991 and was upgraded to Knight First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog five years later. Jacobsen died at a Copenhagen hospice on 2 December 2010.

References