Løkke Rasmussen survives after marathon meeting

The former Danish prime minister guaranteed his party colleagues that no further scandals would surface

After meeting for seven hours with the Venstre board last night, the embattled Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced he would continue on as the party’s head.

Rasmussen looked like he was on the brink of being dethroned yesterday, and several media wrote that he would step down by the end of the day, citing how voters, party members and fellow parliamentarians had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party. But just after 1am, Rasmussen emerged from the meeting to end the speculation and confirm he is staying put.

“We live in a media reality in which portraits are composed of us,” Rasmussen said at the press conference after the meeting. “Luckily, none of them are completely true.”

READ MORE: Venstre gives Lars Løkke one more chance

Scandals galore
The former Danish prime minister has been in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons lately, and his party has been haemorrhaging members and votes as a result.

The ‘Luxury Lars’ saga kicked off in earnest last year when it was revealed he had spent 770,000 kroner on first-class flights as the chairman of climate organisation GGGI, which is funded by Danish taxpayer funds.

Then this year, Rasmussen had to explain why the party shelled out 152,000 kroner on his clothing and paid for a family holiday to Mallorca in Spain back in 2011.

”We know that it will be a long and tough haul, but we think that we can do it,” Rasmussen said about the prospect of regaining the trust of the party members and the voters in general.

But Rasmussen will have to stay on a righteous path from now on. After the meeting, several board members said he had guaranteed that no more scandals would emerge in the future.

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