Dave does a Borgen |

Thursday 9th February 2012 | 08:10

Dave does a Borgen

The PM's in Stockholm for the Nordic-Baltic Summit and he's striking a markedly Scandinavian tone on getting more women into top business posts.

In a classically Cameroonian quote, he says: "The drive for more women in business is not simply about equal opportunity; it's about effectiveness. It's about quality, not just equality."

When I interviewed him recently, Dave said he'd just finished The Killing II and wanted to know which hot, water-cooler TV programme he should be watching next.

Judging from his line today, it may well be that he's moved onto Borgen, the new Danish West Wing, complete with a female premier and plenty of strong female characters.

Funnily enough, there was an episode recently where the ficitonal Prime Minister Birgitte (pictured above) grappled with a new law to impose quotas on women board directors.

In a case of life imitating art, the current Danish PM is indeed a woman. Helle Thorning-Schmidt will be joined by the Icelandic premier to ensure women make up 22% of the leaders at the summit today.

It's unlikely Dave will go for a strict quota (it's 40% of the board in Norway, just under the 45% in Borgen) but he knows he has to do more than nudge on this issue.

His own Cabinet is not exactly awash with women so I suspect we can expect more promoted in the reshuffle. The real problem here is - as he pointed out in The House magazine - that the Lib Dems don't have many women MPs.

It's a great irony that's not gone unnoticed among Tory ranks - the Lib Dems are holding back the cause of women's representation in Government.

UPDATE: I asked this PM's official spokesman this morning if the PM watched Borgen and replied: "I'm not sure". The PMOS then fessed that he personally had tried on to watch the first one and promptly fell asleep (to be fair the first one was a bit clunky).

But I've now got to the bottom of this crucial issue of the PM's viewing habits and I've got a hot exclusive for you.

A senior source close to Dave tells me that he has "not yet" seen Borgen. Now, that suggests he's either saving it up on his telly's hard-drive or that he and Sam have it on Box Set waiting for them.

I reckon he'll love it. One spot of Strange, Meyer...and even Theis (for the keener-eyed among you) and I'm sure the PM will be hooked.

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Dave does a Borgen

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