Hello Helle: Danish PM Thorning-Schmidt and how she charmed Barack Obama and David Cameron

Barack Obama and David Cameron are just the latest in a long line of power brokers who have fallen for the charms of the Danish PM. Susannah Butter reports on the toast of Europe’s social network
12 December 2013

She’s the woman who made the leader of the free world lean in. At Nelson Mandela’s memorial service all eyes were on the Danish prime minister, especially those of David Cameron and Barack Obama. As South Africa gathered to celebrate the life of Mandela, Obama and Cameron took a photo with their new friend, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Yesterday a shot of Obama taking the selfie was on the front of six national papers.

This is unusual behaviour from politicians but not around Thorning-Schmidt, 46. “She is great company, as Obama discovered,” says former Europe minister Denis MacShane, who became friends with the Staatsminister as she rose to power. “Thorning-Schmidt is one of the nicest politicians in Europe — a warm woman and mother.” Nick Clegg, who got to know her when they were both working in Brussels in the early Nineties, is also a fan. Alastair Campbell, who was introduced to her in 1994, says: “She knocked the legs from beneath me ... she’s got terrific charisma.” He wrote to her before she was elected prime minister in October 2011: “It will be fantastic if you win, and nothing less than you deserve. But remember to get a little rest along the way.”

So who is this blonde-haired, blue-eyed politician who pulled Obama into a selfie? Why does everyone want to be a Helle’s Angel, and would Birgitte Nyborg , the prime minister in Borgen, ever do something like this?

First of all, she’s happily married. Stephen Kinnock, 43, is the lucky guy and the father of their two children, Johanna, 16, and Camilla, 13. Her father-in-law, the former leader of the Labour party, Neil Kinnock, told the Standard: “Steve met her when they were both on scholarships to do masters at the College of Europe. He brought her to meet us at Christmas 1992 and Glenys’s mother said, ‘she’s very pretty, isn’t she?’” Neil Kinnock speaks of a woman who is “feisty, fun, with lots of courage and a strong sense of values”. She tries to go for a run every morning, likes reading, has “encyclopaedic knowledge of country and western music and a good voice. The children are the centre of her world and her sparky mother helps with childcare”. The family go on yearly skiing holidays to Geneva but Thorning-Schmidt was too busy this year, so her husband took the kids.

The first female prime minister of Denmark has selfie form. At a concert for the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo last December, the Helle-raiser spotted a familiar face, Sarah Jessica Parker. Thorning-Schmidt leapt from her cab, strode to the front of the queue of fans and said, “Hi, I’m the Danish prime minister”, before posing for a photo and charming the actress.

So Dave ’n’ Barry, Clegg, Campbell, the entire Kinnock clan and SJP may be smitten but this behaviour “divides Denmark”, says Lotte Folke, foreign editor of Denmark’s Information newspaper. “Yesterday, the selfie touched on a sore point in her image. It shows she’s human but she is perceived by some as a bit shallow; she’s been professional about gaining access to power but it’s hard to find out what she feels in terms of politics.”

Thorning-Schmidt has an interesting double life,” says Folke. “She likes to stress that she is from Ishøj, south-west of Copenhagen, because it’s a workers’ area but she’s been part of the political elite for a long time so some think she is distant.” Her taste for designer clothes has earned her the nickname “Gucci Helle”.

Thorning-Schmidt is the first Social Democrat in her family. Her conservative parents Grete and Holger, a mathematics and economics lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, divorced when she was 10. She has an older brother who now works in the health service, and a sister who is an English teacher. She studied political science at the University of Copenhagen before a European Studies masters at the

College of Europe. It was there that she became a Social Democrat.

She and Stephen Kinnock lived in Brussels, where they both had successful careers in European politics. Kinnock now works at Xynteo, a strategic advisory firm, but while she was campaigning he occupied his time “taking care of the children, cooking and trying to do DIY around the house”. He speaks good Danish and is popular, except in 2010 when Danish authorities investigated him for tax evasion. He was living in Davos as a director for the World Economic Forum, so he was not subject to Danish taxes.

But this didn’t stop Thorning-Schmidt winning the election in 2011, and people back here making “finally a Kinnock wins an election” quips. Her alliance of parties won 89 seats in the 179-seat parliament, giving her a wafer-thin majority over the centre-Right incumbent Lars Løkke Rasmussen. She represented “a sense of renewal”, just like Borgen’s Birgitte Nyborg, who came on screens shortly before Thorning-Schmidt took over. Thorning-Schmidt watched the first series but Neil Kinnock says “she wasn’t too keen”. It seems they prefer Sex and the City.

Borgen writer Adam Price has said: “I don’t really think we influenced the election.” The actress who plays Birgitte, Sidse Babett Knudsen, deliberately avoided studying the real PM’s body language.

Now Danish politics are starting to resemble a knotty Borgen plot. While Thorning-Schmidt bonded with Barack, a serious incident was developing back home. Folke claims: “The minister of justice [Morten Bødskov] had to step down because of a scandal. He is alleged to have been lying about intelligence provided to an opposition politician.

“It’s a government in crisis”, she continues. “The social minister is fighting for her job and the development minister is weak. People concerned with that see the selfie as inappropriate.” With the next general election in September 2015, people are questioning whether the Staatsminister is secure.

MacShane disagrees. “Only the prissy London press could think the selfie was a bad thing. Thorning-Schmidt is the star of reformist social democracy in Europe, trimming the welfare state and encouraging private investment. Denmark is coming out of the recession like the UK so her brave decisions are paying off. If the EU wants its first woman president of the European Commission they should pop over to Copenhagen and see if she will take on the job.”

Neil Kinnock says: “She knew it was going to be tough managing a three-party coalition. It requires extensive diplomatic and negotiating skills but she’s a very good prime minister.” Peter Mogensen of Danish think-tank Kraka says the selfie may be politically advantageous. “In Denmark, being seen with the ‘big dogs’ is always good given the small size of our country.” Now she’s got Obama onside, anything is possible. #selfie

A GUIDE TO SELFIETIQUETTE

Sorry, Kim K: your eye-watering #arsie is no longer the most famous selfie of 2013. That highest of honours — we are talking about the OED’s word of the year here — has been awarded to Barack Obama, David Cameron and Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who were snapped by the world’s press taking a selfie at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Mrs O was unamused.

As #selfiegate spins through the news cycle, the high profile photo faux-pas proves there are serious dos and don’ts to self-snapping.

DO think about time and place. Examples of the wrong time and place include in the loo (bog roll does not a background make), anywhere reflective which might betray the presence of an inappropriate interloper or object, on the street (lest a pavement-raging pedestrian knock your phone out of your hand), hospitals, prisons, the memorial service of a peerless hero, etc.

DO watch who’s watching you. For example, if that’s the world’s press, consider how it might appear on tomorrow’s front pages. If that’s your mates, consider how you might be ridiculed persistently for weeks.

DO pick your mates — Helle grabbed two people more important than her and raised her profile overnight. People are now genuinely confusing her with the more famous Birgitte Nyborg from Borgen. Job done.

DON’T practise your expression: overthinking tends to manifest in an awkward, frozen lockjaw. Selfies should be spontaneous.

DO caption it something witty. Use emojis liberally and hashtags (preferably written in International Internet English; using a “z” to pluralise rather than an “s”, etc.) It simulates a Cara attitude: you’re really too cool to care about all this nonsense.

DON’T selfie at the expense of fun. When there’s action happening elsewhere (e.g. the memorial service of a peerless hero), make sure you’re watching that instead. Makes a better photo op.

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