Ann Pernille Vermund Bretton-Meyer (born 3 December 1975) is a Danish architect ( MAA) and politician, being a member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

since 2019. She is known for co-founding and being the leader of the

national-conservative National conservatism is a nationalism, nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding National identity, national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist c ...

political party Nye Borgerlige (New Right) from its founding in 2015 until February 2023 and again from October 2023 to January 2024. On 10 January 2024, she surprisingly announced that she had left Nye Borgerlige, recommending its dissolution. A week later, she joined the parliamentary group of the Liberal Alliance. Before the founding of Nye Borgerlige in 2015, Vermund was affiliated with the Conservative People's Party.

Background

Vermund is a graduate of the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...

and worked as an architect before entering politics. She was the owner of the company Vermund Gere Arkitekter MAA. Vermund is divorced from her first husband Johnny Gere and is the mother of three boys. In 2019, she married Danish author and businessman Lars Tvede. In 2021, they were divorced, and in March 2022 she announced her engagement to former DBU director Claus Bretton-Meyer.

Political career

Vermund was a member of the Conservative People's Party and sat on the municipal council in

Helsingør Municipality Helsingør Municipality (a variant English name: Elsinore Municipality; Danish: ''Helsingør Kommune''), is a municipality in the Capital Region on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipal ...

for the party from 2009 to 2011. In October 2015, she co-founded the New Right party with Peter Seier Christensen. Vermund said at the time that she founded the party as she felt her old party had become too soft on the issues of immigration and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. In 2024, she stated that she had left the Conservative People's Party because she was "''too liberal''" to stay there, and that retrospectively she regretted some of her earlier statements in the immigration debate. She also stated that ideologically she was predominantly a ''

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, eco ...

'' politician. Vermund was elected to the

in 2019. In January 2023, Vermund announced that she would resign as party leader and would not be standing for re-election to Parliament at the next Danish general election . On 7 February 2023 she was succeeded by Lars Boje Mathiesen as party leader. However, a month later Mathiesen was suddenly expelled from the party by its national executive after disputes over remuneration and campaign finances. Following the expulsion of Boje, Vermund conveyed her willingness to once again take over as party leader and to run in the next general election. In October 2023, she was unanimously elected as party chairman once more. On 10 January 2024, Vermund surprisingly announced that the party's parliamentary group would be dissolved, as she together with the remaining two MPs vould leave Nye Borgerlige in order to become independents. She also recommended the dissolution of the party. On 16 January the party's parliamentary group was formally dissolved, though the party itself still existed. On the following day, Vermund announced she had joined Liberal Alliance. She explained in a newspaper interview that the leader of Liberal Alliance Alex Vanopslagh had told her in December 2023 that she would be welcome in that party, after which she had considered the situation and made her decision to leave the party she had founded.

References

General references

* *

External links

Biography on the website of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermund, Pernille 1975 births Living people Politicians from Copenhagen Conservative People's Party (Denmark) politicians The New Right (Denmark) politicians Women members of the Folketing 21st-century Danish women politicians Critics of multiculturalism Danish municipal councillors Danish women architects 20th-century Danish architects 21st-century Danish architects Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Members of the Folketing 2019–2022 Leaders of political parties in Denmark Members of the Folketing 2022–2026 Liberal Alliance (Denmark) politicians