I thought Thanks David that's just what I needed At one point, during a round of tough negotiations, her picture was burnt in the streets of Skopje.Ulf Dahlsten, who was Palme's personal secretary at the time of his shooting to death in Stockholm in 1986, said that Lindh was the most important Swedish political figure since the late prime minister: In her speeches against the war in Iraq and in support of the Palestinians, she emerged clearly as Palme's natural heir. In a world of grey, male politicians each watching their backs as much as their futures, Lindh proved that all she needed to spin was a very human tapestry of honesty, vulnerability, conviction, charm and physical beauty.With Macedonia on the brink of civil war during Sweden's EU presidency, Lindh played a leading role in getting both sides to bury their differences. The sceptics were numerous - they felt that appointing a young blonde would give Sweden a lightweight presence in international forums.It had the opposite effect, and in Sweden's six-month presidency of the EU in 2001, her star rose beyond all expectation and her critics - including Swedish diplomatic heavyweights such as Pierre Schori - were silenced once and for all. Instead she completed her law studies at Uppsala University and worked as an articled clerk at Stockholm High Court. After leaving the chair of the Young Socialists after a six-year tenure in 1990, Lindh joined the executive of the Social Democratic Party.From then on, a career in politics became an inevitability and she worked in city-hall politics in the capital until 1994 when she became Environment Minister - a portfolio she accepted even though she was opposed to the construction of the giant ?esund bridge which connects Sweden and Denmark.When, in 1998, she became Sweden's youngest-ever Foreign Minister, she only accepted the job because she was guaranteed unflinching support from the Social Democrats' colourless but skilled leader, G? Persson. He responded by saying, "I see, you want even more parents to be away from their children." I thought, "Thanks David, that's just what I needed."Lindh was a reluctant politician who found the business of politics vicious and, in 1982, when she became an MP, declined the chance to become Sweden's youngest ever minister. He wanted me to come home immediately, but I explained that it was important for me to be in Nice because it would allow more countries to join the European Union. She was a mother who often referred to her family - she leaves a husband, Bo Holmberg, and two sons, David and Filip - but she never exploited the image for political gain Rather, she would be self-critical. Asked once how she juggled her job and motherhood, Lindh recalled an EU summit in Nice and an evening telephone conversation with David. She recently said: "Sometimes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict makes me so angry that I kick the wastepaper bin in my office or throw things around." Comments like those could not fail to endear Lindh to the public - all the more so because they always appeared spontaneous; un-spun.
Lindh had her own views and you felt she would not adhere to a position unless she knew the facts and had formulated her own opinion.Opinionated she was. The others wore badges - like the red and yellow no-nukes symbol that was popular in Europe at the time - and they dutifully trotted out the party line they had signed up to. But she was by far the sharpest of all the young politicians who came on to the show in the run-up to the 1986 general election. In those days, wearing owl-like glasses and a woolly pully, she was a little frumpish and awfully earnest. At the age of 13 - when she had already been a member of the Swedish anti-Vietnam War movement for two years - she joined the Young Socialists.I first met her in 1986 when she was national chairwoman of the Swedish Young Socialists and I was presenting a youth radio programme which aimed to tackle political issues in a way that would interest young voters. |
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