Frp advisor recorded calling Pakistanis “minus variants” in secret bar recording
A political advisor for Norway’s Progress Party (Frp) has been reported to police after a secret recording revealed he called Pakistani immigrants “minus variants” and suggested they should not have children in Norway, Dagbladet reports.
Hårek Hansen, a political advisor to Frp MP Simen Velle, made the remarks during a conversation at a bar in Oslo, captured by two TV 2 journalists using hidden recording devices. The broadcast of the comments on Saturday has triggered widespread condemnation, including from Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Conservative Party leader Ine Eriksen Søreide, who labelled the statements as racist.
Frp leader Sylvi Listhaug also distanced herself from Hansen’s comments on Sunday. Hansen, who has not responded to requests for comment, previously told TV 2 in an email that his words were “meant as humour and childish provocation” and influenced by alcohol. He called them “vulgar and stupid drunken talk” that he “strongly regrets.”
Criticism of secret recording method
The use of covert recordings has sparked debate, with social commentator Kjetil Rolness calling it “an ethical belly flop” on Facebook. Norway’s press ethical guidelines permit hidden recordings only in exceptional cases of significant public interest, such as exposing serious crime or abuse of power.
“Hidden recordings should be used to uncover hidden matters of major public importance—serious crime or abuse of power—where evidence cannot be obtained otherwise,” Rolness wrote. “This is not such a case. It’s just revealing what a party advisor might say when drunk, only to regret it later.”
Frp municipal politician Simen Sandelien also criticised TV 2’s approach, questioning whether secretly recording a “private conversation in a social setting” met the threshold for public interest. “Because what was said was not intended for the public, the bar should be higher, not lower,” he wrote.
TV 2 defends publication
Karianne Solbrække, TV 2’s news editor, rejected claims that the recording was ethically unjustified, citing Hansen’s role as an advisor to senior Frp figures—including his marriage to a close associate of party leader Sylvi Listhaug—as justification for public scrutiny.
“We understand that opinions on this may differ, but we believe his position as an advisor to central Frp politicians makes these statements significant enough to publish,” Solbrække said. She acknowledged the situation was “very unusual” but maintained that the public interest in exposing the remarks outweighed methodological concerns.
Commentator Kjetil Alstadheim of Aftenposten noted that while racism is undeniably a serious societal issue, the method would have been easier to defend had the comments come from a more prominent figure, such as Listhaug or Velle themselves. “A little-known advisor? That’s at least a grey area,” he wrote.