Stephen Kinnock

The Hon. Stephen Kinnock
Stephen Kinnock at the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia held in Vienna, Austria, June 6, 2011
Spouse of the Prime Minister of Denmark
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 October 2011
Monarch	Margrethe II
Prime Minister	Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Preceded by	Sólrun Løkke Rasmussen
Personal details
Born	(1970-01-01) 1 January 1970 Tredegar, Wales, UK[1]
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Relations	Neil Kinnock (father), Glenys Kinnock (mother)
Children	2

Stephen Kinnock (born 1 January 1970^[2]) is the husband of Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and a British executive who has held various senior positions with the British Council prior to joining the World Economic Forum in January 2009 as director, head of Europe and Central Asia.^[3] In August 2012 he was appointed Managing Director at Xynteo, a strategic advisory firm that specialises in helping global companies to green their business models and supply chains.

He is the son of Neil Kinnock, former leader of the Labour Party and ex-chair of the British Council, and Glenys Kinnock, a former Labour Member of the European Parliament and Minister of State at (2009–10) at the UK Foreign Office. He is married to the Prime Minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, whom he met when they were both studying at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium during 1992–1993, to which he had won a scholarship.

Career

After attending Drayton Manor High School, and having achieved a degree in Modern Languages from Queens' College, University of Cambridge and an MA from the College of Europe in 1993, Stephen Kinnock worked as a research assistant at the European Parliament in Brussels before becoming a British Council Development and Training Services executive based in Brussels from 1997. He was promoted to become British Council's Brussels Director in 2002.

The British Council was involved in a major tax-dispute over its alleged failure to register commercial activities in Russia and pay taxes.^[4][5][6][7] In St. Petersburg on 15 January 2008, Kinnock was detained for an hour for drunk driving before being released, after claiming diplomatic immunity and refusing to take an alcohol breath test. British diplomatic spokesmen confirmed that before driving, Kinnock had a glass of wine, but that he was not drunk because it was less than allowed by Russian norms,^[8] and that he might at most have committed a minor traffic offence.^[9][10]

Following the closure, imposed by the Russian authorities, of the St. Petersburg office, Kinnock took up a position with the British Council in Sierra Leone.^[11]

From January 2009 he was employed by the World Economic Forum based in Geneva, Switzerland, as director, head of Europe and Central Asia.^[3]

In August 2012 he took up a position at Xyntéo in London, a business advisory company that helps global businesses go beyond the green basics and reinvent the way they grow. Kinnock is managing director of the 'Global Leadership and Technology Exchange',^[12] a partnership which aims to bring together some of the world’s leading businesses to discuss and act upon routes that can be taken to bring about resource-efficient growth'.^[13]

Personal life

Kinnock has been married to the Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt since 1996. The couple have two daughters.^[14]

In June 2010, the Danish tabloid B.T. accused Kinnock of tax evasion.^[15] At that time he was paying tax in Switzerland where his workplace was situated, and therefore had his main residence there, although his wife's political website states that 'The family lives in Østerbro in Copenhagen'.^[16] The couple had previously stated to the media that Kinnock would spend his weekends in Denmark, sometimes including Thursday, and that he regarded his home and base as being exclusively with his family in Copenhagen. According to the tabloid, he would possibly exceed 183 days a year in Denmark, meaning he would be fully taxable there. Helle Thorning-Schmidt repudiated the accusations but said the couple would ask the Danish tax authority for an audit.^[17][18] The audit by the Danish Tax & Customs Administration (SKAT) was concluded on 17 September 2010, and in its Official Report SKAT stated that 'Mr Kinnock does not have tax liability for 2007, 08, or 09, as he does not reside in this country within the meaning of the Danish Tax at Sources Act' [various Danish newspaper reports as of 18 September 2010.]

References