Frederiksen is often described as Denmark’s “Iron Lady,” a left-wing incarnation of Margaret Thatcher. From the moment she entered Danish parliament in 2001 at 23, she was seen as a blunt newcomer with her sights firmly set on power. Her reputation for directness was reinforced in 2014 when, shortly after being appointed justice minister, she promptly demoted the ministry’s top civil servant. The move provoked such internal anger that other department heads appeared in black “mourning attire”—an unusually overt protest against a sitting minister.