The Nestor of the Socialist People’s Party (SF), former Group Chairman Aage Frandsen, is suggesting that if the party is overruled again, as it has been on the issue of a tax agreement and a toll ring around Copenhagen, the party should consider leaving government.

At the same time, Frandsen questions whether Party Leader Villy Søvndal should have taken the foreign portfolio.

In an OPED article in today’s Politiken, Frandsen,, who has refrained from commenting publicly on party affairs since he left Parliament in 2005, lists mistakes he believes the party leadership has made, adding that the party cannot afford any more defeats such as the shelving of its Copenhagen toll ring policy.

“If a similar situation arises, such as in the tax agreement or toll ring in which the party has been overruled, the party should consider (ED: its position) as there are limits. Experience shows that SF can certainly also exert influence outside government,” he writes.

Another highly sensitive issue addressed by Frandsen is Party Leader Villy Søvndal’s position as foreign minister. Here Frandsen rubs salt in the party wounds by drawing a direct parallel to the former Conservative Party Chairwoman Lene Espersen who was forced out of both the party leadership and the foreign portfolio.

“Lene Espersen chose another model which should not be followed. Why didn’t Søvndal choose the Jelved-Bendtsen model and choose a former party leader such as Holger Nielsen as foreign minister? Søvndal would thus have had a much better chance of functioning as chairman with a base in a central domestic policy portfolio,” Frandsen writes.

Party MPs and most of the SF leadership have been reluctant to comment on Frandsen’s article. But Acting Political Spokeswoman Karina Lorentzen says she does not see Søvndal’s job combination as a problem.

Nonetheless, she says that SF’s role has been blurred as a result of the party’s close partnership with the Social Democrats.

“We did too much in an attempt to melt in with the Social Democrats before the election. The time has now come to reformulate our policies,” she says adding: “We have a lot of good policies. Also a lot of issues in which we agree with the Social Democrats. But it is also important that there is a difference and that people know why they should vote for SF.”

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