Who are your country’s high-profile politicians that was never the head of government?
May 29, 2025
Either party leaders that didn't win enough to form a government, or recognisable cabinet ministers that never went for the leadership role.
21 comments
Definitely Álvaro Cunhal.
The man fought the dictatorship, was arrested for it, then broke out of prison using the Dictator’s armoured car to break the main gates.
Jeppe Kofoed. He was the leader of Venstre for five years, yet he never got much power.
Pia Kjærsgård. Founder of Dansk Folkeparti, never held the role of Stateminister(primeminister).
Søren Pape Poulsen. Former Leader of Konservative, built them up after years of failure. Went from the most popular candidate in the 2022 election, to having his reputation tarnished. Died March 2024.
These are 3 of the biggest names in recent Danish politics, yet none of them have ever, or will ever become stateminister. As 2 of them have retired from Folketinget and Governmental business, while the last guy may rest in peace.
Sadly, it would today be Nigel Farage – the face of Brexit, which has continued to define the country’s politics for the full 9 years since the vote in 2016.
Historically the name that most jumps out would be Nye Bevan – creator of the National Health Service shortly after the second world war.
Probably Gerry Adams.
He was probably the most famous politician not in government in the UK & Ireland for a couple of decades.
The British wouldn’t allow his real voice to be played on air for a long time.
In current norwegian politics is most likely a guy called Trond Giske. Was the nr.2 or 3 for a long period in the labour party for quite a long time. Having the backing of important groups organizations supporting that party. Guy has been in politics all the way since the 90s. Being both into some me-too things having to stay away for some time.. and trying to hug PM Stoltenberg.. which ended up comically with Stoltenberg avoiding his hug. In his time he was seen as one day a possible head of the labour party and maybe a PM one day..
Right now right wing populist leader Geert Wilders won the election but isnt part of the administration. The current prime minister isnt affiliated with one of the 4 coalition parties. Its a rather unusual setup.
Wilders is a member of the parliament and leader of the biggest party. He often criticize the current administration, even ministers of his own party.
To quote the Youtube content creator Tom Nicholas: Nigel Farage is the most successful UK politician of the 21st century.
He was the figurative leader of Brexit despite not even having had a seat in (the British) parliament. Whatever minor party he led would consistently get a significant proportion of votes from the electorate (though that wouldn’t usually translate to many seats in parliament due to the daft electoral system we have), and as soon as he left it or somebody else got elected leader of that party, the party would collapse.
His new party is now well on its way to becoming the largest party in parliament in 2029, disrupting the two-party order that has governed British politics for about 100 years and leading one of the oldest and most successful parties in the world to near extinction.
> Joseph Luns
Minister of foreign affairs for 15 years after which he became the longest serving NATO Secretary General for 13 years
> Marga Klompé
First female minister that was one of the main architects of the modern welfare state
> Pim Fortuyn
Sort of the predecessor of Geert Wilders and the anti-migrant populist right. He was assassinated in 2002
> Hans van Mierlo
Founder and long time leader of the social-liberal party D66. Overall he was a pretty prominent politician
> Piet Steenkamp
Really niche but he was the architect of the fusion of 3 christian parties into the CDA which was one of the political juggernauts until it declined in the last couple of years (the grip of the CDA and it’s predecessors was so big that around 1998 the first government was formed without a christiandemocrat party since 1918)
The UK would be Michael Portillo – he was a very recognisable, even popular cabinet minister, that lost his seat in the 1997 election. He was tipped to be the next Conservative leader. They call it a Portillo moment to this day when it happens again.
Now he presents popular train documentaries and wears very colourful trousers.
Until very recently the answer would undoubtedly have been Bart De Wever, who became the prime minister a few months ago. He was the party leader of NVA from 2004 until 2025, which is exceptionally long by Belgian party standards, and NVA has been the biggest party since 2014. During the 2014-2019 government he was often called the most powerful politician in the country. Aside from that he’s also been the mayor of Antwerp (the biggest city) since 2013.
I suppose the answer now would be Tom Van Grieken. He became the leader of the far-right party Vlaams Belang in 2014 when they had just 6% in the elections, and brought them back to become the second biggest party with 23% last year.
For Italy I’d say basically every major politician of the communist party (PCI) from the postwar years until 1991 when the party dissolved into a new one – that eventually became the current Partito Democratico (PD) that did govern in recent years.
If I had to point some names, I’d say Palmiro Togliatti, who was minister of justice in the first postwar government and was probably the most influential communist leader of western Europe, and Enrico Berlinguer, his heir who moved the party away from the Soviet influence and more towards social democracy and was respected by everyone regardless of political affiliations.
More recently, and tragically, Matteo Salvini would really love to be prime minister but he never managed.
I would say Mona Sahlin who was one of those people long expected to become the first female prime minister as far back as the 90s. She was a deputy PM and an equality minister at the time.
After a scandal called the “Toblerone affair” in 95/96 which was actually about her using a government issued card for private purchases upwards of 53.000 SEK she had to give up her candidacy to become party leader for the Socialdemocrats. She was quietly given some post on the continent and then a very short lived principal position at a school of some kind.
From 1998-2006 she made a comeback and held different ministerial posts (like 5 or 6 diffrent posts) until the Socialdemocrats lost the 2006 election then she would get her chance to finally become party leader and heir to Göran Persson like many people wanted in the 90s. From 2007-2011 she would be party leader and she would try to make a “coalition” i use that term very loosely. With the Greens and the Leftist Party for the next election against Frederik Reinfeldts alliance.
The Socialdemocrats lost that election with a share of 30% of the vote, numbers they would probably kill for in following elections but that at the time was the worst the Socialdemocrats had done in an election since people have had the right to vote in Sweden. It was also the election where the Sweden Democrats first enter parliament and would hold a kingmaker position which is why the 2010 election is so memorable to people that are interested in swedish politics.
After that the first woman slated to one day be PM just fades away from political relevance and now she appears like a ghost on election nights to talk to the media about polls, results and what they may mean for the future and often next to Carl Bildt only to then dissapear again until a new election night. Sure she held some positions but nothing politically relevant, was convicted in court for making false statements and then stopped being a member of the Socialdemocrats in 2020.
Sweden historically have a bunch of them, as we had one guy who was prime minister 1946-1969 and then another who took over and sat 1969-1976 + 1982-1986 (with the opposition being in power 1976-1982). The most notable in that period was likely Gunnar Sträng who was finance minister 1955-1976, and who twice was asked to become prime minister but declined. Also worth noting Alva Myrdal who got the Nobel Peace Prize and Gunnar Myrdal and Bertil Ohlin who both got Nobel Prize (or rather prize in Nobel’s memory) in economics; all of whom have been minister’s and Ohlin was also the party leader of what today is the Liberal Party.
In modern times would I, unfortunately, rather say Jimmie Åkesson. He has been the head of the right wing (ECR) party Sweden Democrats since 2005 and has during that time managed to get them to go from a despised bunch of skinheads to the currently second biggest party in parliament and an indirect part of the government.
Dead? Žirinovskij. He is basically the father of modern national-populism and he used his popularity to gain seats in the parliament, sell them to people who wanted to get parliamentary immunity and sold their votes to the ruling president.
Still alive? Šojgu. Before the war and his subsequent fall from grace he used to be an immensely popular politician exploiting his long tenure as the minister of emergencies.
Untill recently Bart De Wever, in Januari he became pm after 15 years of being the biggest politician. Now it might be Steve Stevaert or Didier Reinders.
I would probably say Miroslav Kalousek. He’s pretty infamous for his time as finance minister that pretty much saved the budget at the cost of cutting any expenses he saw. This paved the way for populist movements like ANO and SPD and git us into the mess we are in today.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher. Was part of multiple governments but never as Chancellor. He is still known for speaking one of the most well-known half-sentences in German history:
“Wir sind heute zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass Ihre Ausreise”
Wolfgang Schäuble. He was an MP from 1972 till his death in 2023 and had several high profile ministries (interior, finance) as well as being the leader of the CDU parliamentary group, the CDU party and the president of the Bundestag.
Our government are seven people from four different parties with no head.
Also, they can not be chairman of their respective parties, unlike in other countries.
So outside the government, you find high-profile politicians as party chairmen. Due to the federal structure, there is much to do for politicians even on subnational level as members of a canton’s executive council or as mayor of big cities.
The newest member of the Federal Council, Martin Pfister was nationally practically unknown, but in the government of the Canton of Zug.
De facto Jarosław Kaczyński – he only served around a year (2006-2007) as PM while being PiS (right-wing populist, at first christian conservative) party leader (Co-leader 2003-2010, sole leader 2010-present) and de facto leader when the party ruled.
However, in actuality (without any PM positions, no matter how insignificant), probably Rafał Trzaskowski.
He is the KO (liberal party) presidential candidate in 2020 and 2025, and Mayor of Warsaw since 2018. Probably second-most important member of the party for a while, and could win these elections having advanced into the second round.
You could make a case for some other party leaders outside of the recent PO-PiS duopoly (Lepper, Kosiniak-Kamysz, more recently Mentzen) which never had the top position, either being given a notable ministry role or not serving in a gov’t at all, but i wouldn’t really say so.
Most prominent politicians did serve as president or PM, even relatively second-hand people (Cimoszewicz, Szydło, etc)
Technically Macron was never the head of government. That’s the Primer Minister’s role and he was never PM.
21 comments
Definitely Álvaro Cunhal.
The man fought the dictatorship, was arrested for it, then broke out of prison using the Dictator’s armoured car to break the main gates.
Jeppe Kofoed. He was the leader of Venstre for five years, yet he never got much power.
Pia Kjærsgård. Founder of Dansk Folkeparti, never held the role of Stateminister(primeminister).
Søren Pape Poulsen. Former Leader of Konservative, built them up after years of failure. Went from the most popular candidate in the 2022 election, to having his reputation tarnished. Died March 2024.
These are 3 of the biggest names in recent Danish politics, yet none of them have ever, or will ever become stateminister. As 2 of them have retired from Folketinget and Governmental business, while the last guy may rest in peace.
Sadly, it would today be Nigel Farage – the face of Brexit, which has continued to define the country’s politics for the full 9 years since the vote in 2016.
Historically the name that most jumps out would be Nye Bevan – creator of the National Health Service shortly after the second world war.
Probably Gerry Adams.
He was probably the most famous politician not in government in the UK & Ireland for a couple of decades.
The British wouldn’t allow his real voice to be played on air for a long time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988%E2%80%931994_British_broadcasting_voice_restrictions?wprov=sfla1
Trond Giske
In current norwegian politics is most likely a guy called Trond Giske. Was the nr.2 or 3 for a long period in the labour party for quite a long time. Having the backing of important groups organizations supporting that party. Guy has been in politics all the way since the 90s. Being both into some me-too things having to stay away for some time.. and trying to hug PM Stoltenberg.. which ended up comically with Stoltenberg avoiding his hug. In his time he was seen as one day a possible head of the labour party and maybe a PM one day..
Right now right wing populist leader Geert Wilders won the election but isnt part of the administration. The current prime minister isnt affiliated with one of the 4 coalition parties. Its a rather unusual setup.
Wilders is a member of the parliament and leader of the biggest party. He often criticize the current administration, even ministers of his own party.
To quote the Youtube content creator Tom Nicholas: Nigel Farage is the most successful UK politician of the 21st century.
He was the figurative leader of Brexit despite not even having had a seat in (the British) parliament. Whatever minor party he led would consistently get a significant proportion of votes from the electorate (though that wouldn’t usually translate to many seats in parliament due to the daft electoral system we have), and as soon as he left it or somebody else got elected leader of that party, the party would collapse.
His new party is now well on its way to becoming the largest party in parliament in 2029, disrupting the two-party order that has governed British politics for about 100 years and leading one of the oldest and most successful parties in the world to near extinction.
> Joseph Luns
Minister of foreign affairs for 15 years after which he became the longest serving NATO Secretary General for 13 years
> Marga Klompé
First female minister that was one of the main architects of the modern welfare state
> Pim Fortuyn
Sort of the predecessor of Geert Wilders and the anti-migrant populist right. He was assassinated in 2002
> Hans van Mierlo
Founder and long time leader of the social-liberal party D66. Overall he was a pretty prominent politician
> Piet Steenkamp
Really niche but he was the architect of the fusion of 3 christian parties into the CDA which was one of the political juggernauts until it declined in the last couple of years (the grip of the CDA and it’s predecessors was so big that around 1998 the first government was formed without a christiandemocrat party since 1918)
The UK would be Michael Portillo – he was a very recognisable, even popular cabinet minister, that lost his seat in the 1997 election. He was tipped to be the next Conservative leader. They call it a Portillo moment to this day when it happens again.
Now he presents popular train documentaries and wears very colourful trousers.
Until very recently the answer would undoubtedly have been Bart De Wever, who became the prime minister a few months ago. He was the party leader of NVA from 2004 until 2025, which is exceptionally long by Belgian party standards, and NVA has been the biggest party since 2014. During the 2014-2019 government he was often called the most powerful politician in the country. Aside from that he’s also been the mayor of Antwerp (the biggest city) since 2013.
I suppose the answer now would be Tom Van Grieken. He became the leader of the far-right party Vlaams Belang in 2014 when they had just 6% in the elections, and brought them back to become the second biggest party with 23% last year.
For Italy I’d say basically every major politician of the communist party (PCI) from the postwar years until 1991 when the party dissolved into a new one – that eventually became the current Partito Democratico (PD) that did govern in recent years.
If I had to point some names, I’d say Palmiro Togliatti, who was minister of justice in the first postwar government and was probably the most influential communist leader of western Europe, and Enrico Berlinguer, his heir who moved the party away from the Soviet influence and more towards social democracy and was respected by everyone regardless of political affiliations.
More recently, and tragically, Matteo Salvini would really love to be prime minister but he never managed.
I would say Mona Sahlin who was one of those people long expected to become the first female prime minister as far back as the 90s. She was a deputy PM and an equality minister at the time.
After a scandal called the “Toblerone affair” in 95/96 which was actually about her using a government issued card for private purchases upwards of 53.000 SEK she had to give up her candidacy to become party leader for the Socialdemocrats. She was quietly given some post on the continent and then a very short lived principal position at a school of some kind.
From 1998-2006 she made a comeback and held different ministerial posts (like 5 or 6 diffrent posts) until the Socialdemocrats lost the 2006 election then she would get her chance to finally become party leader and heir to Göran Persson like many people wanted in the 90s. From 2007-2011 she would be party leader and she would try to make a “coalition” i use that term very loosely. With the Greens and the Leftist Party for the next election against Frederik Reinfeldts alliance.
The Socialdemocrats lost that election with a share of 30% of the vote, numbers they would probably kill for in following elections but that at the time was the worst the Socialdemocrats had done in an election since people have had the right to vote in Sweden. It was also the election where the Sweden Democrats first enter parliament and would hold a kingmaker position which is why the 2010 election is so memorable to people that are interested in swedish politics.
After that the first woman slated to one day be PM just fades away from political relevance and now she appears like a ghost on election nights to talk to the media about polls, results and what they may mean for the future and often next to Carl Bildt only to then dissapear again until a new election night. Sure she held some positions but nothing politically relevant, was convicted in court for making false statements and then stopped being a member of the Socialdemocrats in 2020.
Sweden historically have a bunch of them, as we had one guy who was prime minister 1946-1969 and then another who took over and sat 1969-1976 + 1982-1986 (with the opposition being in power 1976-1982). The most notable in that period was likely Gunnar Sträng who was finance minister 1955-1976, and who twice was asked to become prime minister but declined. Also worth noting Alva Myrdal who got the Nobel Peace Prize and Gunnar Myrdal and Bertil Ohlin who both got Nobel Prize (or rather prize in Nobel’s memory) in economics; all of whom have been minister’s and Ohlin was also the party leader of what today is the Liberal Party.
In modern times would I, unfortunately, rather say Jimmie Åkesson. He has been the head of the right wing (ECR) party Sweden Democrats since 2005 and has during that time managed to get them to go from a despised bunch of skinheads to the currently second biggest party in parliament and an indirect part of the government.
Dead? Žirinovskij. He is basically the father of modern national-populism and he used his popularity to gain seats in the parliament, sell them to people who wanted to get parliamentary immunity and sold their votes to the ruling president.
Still alive? Šojgu. Before the war and his subsequent fall from grace he used to be an immensely popular politician exploiting his long tenure as the minister of emergencies.
Untill recently Bart De Wever, in Januari he became pm after 15 years of being the biggest politician. Now it might be Steve Stevaert or Didier Reinders.
I would probably say Miroslav Kalousek. He’s pretty infamous for his time as finance minister that pretty much saved the budget at the cost of cutting any expenses he saw. This paved the way for populist movements like ANO and SPD and git us into the mess we are in today.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher. Was part of multiple governments but never as Chancellor. He is still known for speaking one of the most well-known half-sentences in German history:
“Wir sind heute zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass Ihre Ausreise”
Wolfgang Schäuble. He was an MP from 1972 till his death in 2023 and had several high profile ministries (interior, finance) as well as being the leader of the CDU parliamentary group, the CDU party and the president of the Bundestag.
Our government are seven people from four different parties with no head.
Also, they can not be chairman of their respective parties, unlike in other countries.
So outside the government, you find high-profile politicians as party chairmen. Due to the federal structure, there is much to do for politicians even on subnational level as members of a canton’s executive council or as mayor of big cities.
The newest member of the Federal Council, Martin Pfister was nationally practically unknown, but in the government of the Canton of Zug.
De facto Jarosław Kaczyński – he only served around a year (2006-2007) as PM while being PiS (right-wing populist, at first christian conservative) party leader (Co-leader 2003-2010, sole leader 2010-present) and de facto leader when the party ruled.
However, in actuality (without any PM positions, no matter how insignificant), probably Rafał Trzaskowski.
He is the KO (liberal party) presidential candidate in 2020 and 2025, and Mayor of Warsaw since 2018. Probably second-most important member of the party for a while, and could win these elections having advanced into the second round.
You could make a case for some other party leaders outside of the recent PO-PiS duopoly (Lepper, Kosiniak-Kamysz, more recently Mentzen) which never had the top position, either being given a notable ministry role or not serving in a gov’t at all, but i wouldn’t really say so.
Most prominent politicians did serve as president or PM, even relatively second-hand people (Cimoszewicz, Szydło, etc)
Technically Macron was never the head of government. That’s the Primer Minister’s role and he was never PM.