Bendt Bendtsen (born 25 March 1954 in Odense) is a Danish Member of the European Parliament. Before being elected to the Folketing, he worked in the police in Odense; he became a member of the Odense City Council in 1989, and he was Vice-Chairman of the Odense Criminal Police Association from 1989 to 1992.Bendt Bendtsen was the Conservative Party's social policy spokesman from 1994 to 1995, its labour market spokesman from 1995 to 1998, and its legal policy spokesman from 1998 to 1999. He became the political leader of the Conservative Party on 5 August 1999 and became the party's Chairman in November 2000. He was the leader of the Conservative People's Party from 1999 to 2008. He was the Minister of Trade and Industry from 2001 to 2008 under Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.