Morten Bødskov (S) has been forced to withdraw as justice minister after he lost the backing of far-left government support party Enhedslisten.
“The issue was fundamentally about being able to trust a minister who had lied to parliament,” Enhedslisten’s legal spokesperson Pernille Skipper told TV2 Nyheder. "Due to the seriousness of the case, Enhedslisten no longer trusts Bødskov as a minister.”
READ MORE: Justice minister admits lying to parliament
Failed to convince backers
Enhedslisten decided to withdraw its support following a nearly three-hour meeting by parliament’s legal committee this morning.
The meeting was scheduled to give Bødskov the opportunity to explain why he had lied to prevent the committee from taking a planned trip to Christiania last February.
Bødskov explained that intelligence gathered by the domestic intelligence agency PET indicated that there could be disturbances in the freetown if the MPs had made the visit.
Concocted excuse
He claimed the intelligence was so sensitive that he could not share it with the committee, leading him to lie that the trip had to be cancelled because the-then chief of Copenhagen Police, Johan Reimann, couldn’t attend on the scheduled date.
The presence of Dansk Folkeparti MPs Pia Kjærsgaard and Peter Skaarup increased the risk of disturbances in Christiania, leading PET to try and snoop in Kjærsgaard’s calendar to find a date for a rescheduled visit when she couldn’t attend.
While Bødskov promised this morning that he didn’t know of PET’s plans and that he would change the protocol in such a scenario, it was too little too late, and Enhedslisten this afternoon withdrew its support.
Bødskov's departure follows the resignation of Jakob Scharf as head of PET.
