Lars Løkke Rasmussen: Denmark’s pipe-smoking kingmaker who cleans his teeth with soap

Man credited with cooling Greenland tensions with Donald Trump is poised to play central role in any coalition deal

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At the end of a long, gruelling night for the biggest parties on the right and left, there was one veteran of Danish politics who came out of Tuesday’s general election with a smile on his face – and a pipe in his mouth.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the two-time prime minister whose Moderates party is not aligned with the country’s left or right-leaning political blocs, is poised to play a central role in any coalition deal reached in the coming weeks.