Schlüter I Cabinet

First Schlüter Cabinet
62nd Cabinet of Denmark
1982-1984
Schlüter in 1983
Date formed	10 September 1982 (1982-09-10)
Date dissolved	10 January 1984 (1984-01-10)
People and organisations
Head of state	Margrethe II of Denmark
Head of government	Poul Schlüter
No. of ministers	21[1]
Member parties	Conservative People's Party Venstre Centre Democrats Christian Democrats
Status in legislature	Minority government Supported by: Danish Social Liberal Party Progress Party
Opposition parties	Social Democrats Socialist People's Party Left Socialists Union Party Social Democratic Party Atassut Siumut
History
Legislature term	1981-1984
Predecessor	Jørgensen V
Successor	Schlüter II

The Schlüter I cabinet (also described as the Schlüter I(a) cabinet)^[2] was the first cabinet of Prime Minister of Denmark Poul Schlüter. It formed on 10 September 1982,^[3] lasting until the 1984 general election on 10 January 1984.^[4] The government was a coalition of the Conservative Party, the Agrarian Liberals, the Centre Democrats, and the Christian Democrats.^[5]: 42 The coalition was a minority government, holding only 65 of the Folketing's 179 seats,^[2] and relied heavily on external support from the Progress Party and the Radical Liberals.^{[6][7]: 106}

Schlüter was the first conservative prime minister since 1901,^[8] when Hannibal Sehested of the Højre party was in office, and the first ever from the Conservative Party.

The Schlüter I cabinet is sometimes grouped together with the Schlüter II cabinet formed from the 11 January 1984 until the 1987 Danish general election on 8 September 1987.^[9] Even though the two ministries had very similar compositions,^[10] political scholars generally agree that a general election marks the end of a cabinet.^[11][12]

History

In the early 1980s, Denmark was suffering from economic problems including high inflation, an unemployment rate of around 10%, and a large government deficit.^[13] On 3 September 1982, Anker Jørgensen's government resigned after failing to get support for their austerity policies and Margrethe II invited Poul Schlüter to try to form a new government.^[14] Schlüter and his four-party coalition government were sworn into office on 10 September,^[1] making the handover one of the quickest in Denmark's history.^[15] The new government promised to implement spending cuts across all sectors.^[15]

The 1984 general election was called when the coalition's Finance Bill was defeated.^[16] After a 10-hour debate on the bill, and with the Social Democrats and the Progress Party opposing it, the government was defeated by 93 votes to 77.^[16] At the 1984 election, the coalition increased its seat total to 77, still short of a majority of 90.^[6] The Schlüter II cabinet was formed the next day with the same coalition parties and ministers.^[10]

List of ministers

References