Danish Prime Minister denies fresh rumours that her husband is gay

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has again dismissed claims about the sexuality of her husband, the son of Neil Kinnock.

Stephen Kinnock and his wife were audited by government tax inspectors in 2010 after reports they were claiming excessive tax allowances based on where Mr Kinnock was living.

For some reason, Ms Thorning-Schmidt and Mr Kinnock’s accountant told tax inspectors that the latter was “bisexual/homosexual”, according to an e-mail quoted by the respected Danish daily newspaper Politiken.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt, who is Denmark’s first female prime minister, said in an interview with the paper on Saturday that it was “strange to be confronted by this type of rumour, when it’s not true at all.”

The auditors were looking into the couple’s accounts in order to discover whether Mr Kinnock – currently a director of the World Economic Forum in Geneva – had spent weekends at the family home in Copenhagen but underplayed the amount of time he spent in Denmark in order to pay lower taxes in Switzerland.

The couple were cleared. However, last year, similar allegations were raised.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt said: “We live in an unusual way, since we don’t live together. He lives in London and I live in Copenhagen.

“But we’ve been together 20 years. We live a family life that we think works for us and our two kids.”

The Danish Prime Minister also said she wanted to make it clear that the “baseless” rumours about her husband’s sexuality came about because of the tax audit and that she had “no idea” why the accountant said that Mr Kinnock was gay or bisexual.

When the allegations were initially raised in 2011, Ms Thorning-Schmidt said: “is very unpleasant that newspapers print such rumours and I am also sorry that generally there are these rumours about politicians. It’s really uncomfortable, also for my family and my children. It’s so grotesque.”

Denmark’s current system of registered partnerships for gay couples was the first of its kind in the world when it was enacted in 1989. In June this year, equal marriage laws were finally approved.

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