Hørup, Viggo

Viggo Hørup, in full Viggo Lauritz Bentheim Hørup, (born May 22, 1841, Torpmagle, Den.—died Feb. 15, 1902, Copenhagen), Danish politician and journalist, the leading late 19th-century advocate of parliamentary government in Denmark.

Hørup was the leader of the radical left opposition in the Parliament from 1876 to 1892. Also a prominent journalist, he served as editor of the liberal Morgenbladet from 1881 to 1883 and of his own journal, Politiken, from 1884 to 1901. He became a leader of the Left Reform Party, which was founded in the 1890s after the moderate left began to make common cause with the right parties. When full parliamentary government was achieved in 1901, Hørup was named minister of transportation in the Left Reform government. A pacifist, he championed not only responsible government but also Danish neutrality and the reduction of defense measures.