Ivar Hansen

Ivar Hansen (1 November 1938 – 11 March 2003) was a Danish politician from the Liberal party Venstre.

He was elected to the Folketing in 1973. 1978-1979 he was Minister of Public Works in the Anker Jørgensen cabinet. In 1998 he became speaker of the Folketing defeating his Social Democrat rival, Birte Weiss, after a drawing of lots.

He served until his sudden death in the Copenhagen apartment of his mistress Mariann Fischer Boel, who was at the time Minister for Foods and Agriculture. She publicly announced the death after she had talked to his wife. She continued her work and went on to become the European Commissioner for Agriculture.[1][2][3][4][5]

He was chairman of the JydskeVestkysten newspaper 1991–1998.

References

1. Copy of official death announcement from Fischer Boel.
2. Discussion of how the press handled the case.
3. Description of funeral, with other details.
4. Ikke uden overraskelser
5. Se og Hør skrev d. 27. marts 2008 at Ivar Hansen døde i hendes lejlighed, og at de 2 havde haft et forhold kørende i årevis. Se og Hør skriver: "Fischer Boel forsøgte i første omgang at skjule, hvad der var sket, men det slap naturligvis ud. Hun var ellers på spring til at overtage formandsposten Folketinget, men da omstændighederne omkring Ivar Hansens død kom frem, var der bred enighed om, at det næppe var passende længere. I dag sidder Mariann Fischer Boel langt fra Danmark som EU-kommissær i Bruxelles."

Political offices
Preceded by Kjeld Olesen	Minister for Public Works 30 August 1978 – 26 October 1979	Succeeded by Jens Risgaard Knudsen
Preceded by Erling Olsen	Speaker of the Folketing 26 March 1998 – 11 March 2003	Succeeded by Christian Mejdahl