The Conservative People's Party (, DKF), also known as The Conservatives () is a
centre-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
political party in Denmark. The party is a member of the
International Democracy Union
The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023) is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 fu ...
and the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
.
History
The party was founded in 1916
based mostly on its predecessor, ''
Højre'' ("Right") after its downfall, but also on the
Free Conservatives and a moderate faction of the liberal party
''Venstre'' ("Left"). The party was a part of the coalition government during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, where the leader
John Christmas Møller
Guido Leo John Christmas Møller, usually known as Christmas Møller (3 April 1894 in Copenhagen – 13 April 1948 in Copenhagen) was a Danish politician representing the Conservative People's Party.
Life
Møller was elected as a Conservativ ...
provided the voice for BBC London's daily radio to Denmark. However, while a number of conservatives participated in the resistance movement, some conservatives were sympathetic to
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
ideology, and the
youth wing
A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization (usually a political party but occasionally another type of organization) that is formed in order to rally support for that organization from members ...
of the party praised several fascist movements in Europe during the 1930s.
Since World War II, the party has participated in several
coalition government
A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
s, but only one
Prime Minister of Denmark
The prime minister of Denmark (, , ) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Before the creation of the modern office, the kingdom did not init ...
,
Poul Schlüter, has come from this party; he served as prime minister from 1982 to 1993. His government had to resign after the
Tamil Case, when the Justice Minister,
Erik Ninn-Hansen (himself a former Conservative leader), was impeached.
The party used its first logo in 1950, consisting of the serif-letter "C" coloured green. On 24 August 2000, the Conservative People's Party rebranded itself as the Conservatives, and at the same time retired its 50-year-old green serif-letter "C" logo, thus launching a new logo for the first time since 1950. The new logo was a circle which contains a chartreuse circle with the letter "C".
From the
2001 parliament elections until 2011, the Conservative People's Party was the junior partner in a
coalition government
A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
led by
Venstre. In the
2004 European parliament elections, the party won a seat. Four months later, on 23 October 2004, it adopted a logo consisting of a green circle-squared box that contains a dark-green screen with the letter "C" that is coloured green; the "Konservative" wordmark is placed below the symbol, though it too is also coloured green. The member is currently
Bendt Bendtsen, who is a member of the
EPP Group
The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...
in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
. In the
2014 European election, the party garnered 9.1% of the national vote, retaining Bendtsen's seat as MEP.
In the
2011 parliamentary election for the
Folketing
The Folketing ( , ), 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 and Greenland. E ...
(Danish national parliament), the Conservative People's Party won eight seats, 10 fewer than it had won in the
previous election in 2007, and it received 4.9% of the vote, placing the party in eighth place nationally. On 27 September 2013, the Conservative People's Party received the current version of its logo: the colour of the letter "C" was changed to white, the circle-square retained its dark-green colour, and the circle-squared line was removed from it. At the same time, the party gave up being known as the Conservatives, reverting to its former name as the Conservative People's Party.
At the
2015 election, the party did badly and was reduced to a mere six seats, which made it the smallest party in the
Folketing
The Folketing ( , ), 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 and Greenland. E ...
. But
Søren Pape Poulsen
Søren Pape Poulsen (31 December 1971 – 2 March 2024) was a Danish politician who served as a member of the Folketing for the Conservative People's Party (Denmark), Danish Conservative Party and its leader from 2014 until his death. He was pre ...
(who had taken over as leader the previous year) managed to double the party's seats to 12 in the
2019 election with 6.6% of the vote. After that election, several opinion polls indicated that the party enjoyed wider popular support than Venstre, but at the
2022 election gained just 5.5%, following an election campaign significantly influenced by affairs concerning Pape Poulsen's personal life. Poulsen died suddenly at the age of 52 on 2 March 2024, leaving the party leadership vacant.
Organization
The youth branch of the Conservative People's Party, albeit an independent organisation, is
Young Conservatives, 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.
The party remains committed to a
centre-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
alliance, working most closely with the liberal
Venstre and somewhat less closely with the right-wing populist
Danish People's Party
The Danish People's Party (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 party saw a period of significant growth after its founding a ...
. The Conservative People's Party cooperated with the
Social Liberal Party during its time in power in the 1980s, and also with the
centre-left
Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
government under
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
Poul Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen (, informally Poul Nyrup, born 15 June 1943) is a retired Danish politician, who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 25 January 1993 to 27 November 2001 and President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) from ...
in the 1990s.
Ideology and policies
The party's current purpose clause states: "The Conservative People's Party aims to gather everyone who joins the party's program and to work for the spread of conservative views." The party has named
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...
as one of its intellectual sources.
The Conservative People's Party presently advocates individual freedom and responsibility, a
free market economy
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a market ...
, respecting private property, the importance of community for the individual, modernization of the public sector,
decentralization
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
, ensuring up-to-date military defense, and an emphasis on protecting Denmark's national history and traditions. In foreign policy, the party supports economic cooperation with the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
to aid Denmark's economic growth and keep peace in Europe, but maintains the EU must also respect the right to national identity and calls for a less centralized EU in which member states can maintain sovereignty over their national, regional and local decision making powers. The party also highlights environmentalism as one of its core philosophies in accordance to
green conservatism.
List of leaders
Political leaders
Party chairmen
Notable members
*
John Christmas Møller
Guido Leo John Christmas Møller, usually known as Christmas Møller (3 April 1894 in Copenhagen – 13 April 1948 in Copenhagen) was a Danish politician representing the Conservative People's Party.
Life
Møller was elected as a Conservativ ...
– World War II resistance figure in exile in England.
*
Poul Schlüter – The longest-serving Danish prime minister since
Thorvald Stauning
Thorvald August Marinus Stauning (; 26 October 1873 in Copenhagen – 3 May 1942) was the first Social Democrats (Denmark), social democratic prime minister of Denmark. He served as Prime Minister from 1924 to 1926 and again from 1929 until his d ...
. Schlüter is the Conservative People's Party's only prime minister to date. He led the Conservative People's Party to its best-ever result at a national election, reaching 23.4% of the national vote. After his term as prime minister ended he was elected to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
in 1994, reaching a record breaking number of 247,956 personal votes.
*
Connie Hedegaard – Appointed as the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
's first ever
European Commissioner for Climate Action
The Commissioner for Climate Action is a post in the European Commission. It was created in 2010, being split from the environmental portfolio to focus on fighting climate change.
The European Union has made a number of moves in regard to clima ...
in February 2010, Hedegaard was elected to the
Danish Parliament
The Folketing ( , ), 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 and Greenland. E ...
as a member for the Conservative People's Party in 1984 at the age of 23, becoming the youngest Danish MP ever at that time. In 1989, Hedegaard became first spokesperson for the Conservative People's Party, but left politics for
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
in 1990.
*
Stefan G. Rasmussen (born 23 July 1947), a former Danish pilot who captained the crash-landing
SAS flight 751 on 27 December 1991, in which there were no fatalities. He then entered politics, serving in the Danish ''
Folketing
The Folketing ( , ), 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 and Greenland. E ...
'' from 1994 to 1996.
Election results
Parliament
Local elections
European Parliament
Notes
References
External links
Official website
{{International Democracy Union
Political parties established in 1916
Liberal conservative parties
Green conservative parties
Conservative parties in Denmark
Member parties of the European People's Party
Parties represented in the European Parliament
International Democracy Union member parties
1916 establishments in Denmark
Social conservative parties