Finnish Minister Fired for Erotic Texts to 'Scandinavian Doll'

Finland's embattled Foreign Minister has been finally put out of his misery after he was sacked amid fresh revelations about sexually suggestive text messages he sent to a stripper.

Ilkka Kanerva had refused to back down during weeks of media revelations about the 200 text messages he sent to 29-year-old Johanna Tukiainen, a former nude model and leader of an erotic dance ensemble called the Scandinavian Dolls.

As late as Monday the minister, who has served in several government roles during his career, was still insisting that he could continue in office. But with the publication of some of the messages in a celebrity magazine yesterday, his conservative National Coalition Party took the decision out of his hands, removing him from the post.

After initially arguing that he had never sent any text messages to the dancer, the 60-year-old politician later admitted doing so and apologised, but argued that the messages had not been inappropriate and purely business related.

His downfall was finally sealed after Hymy, a Finnish celebrity magazine, published some of the minister's messages to Ms Tukiainen sent during the early hours one night. "Would you like to do it in an exotic place? Where could it be?" he asked her in one. In another, he asked if he could touch her in a nightclub. The magazine also said Mr Kanerva had asked the former model about her underwear in one of the messages, while another proposed a dinner date with Ms Tukiainen and her sister.

The chairman of Mr Kanerva's party, Jyrki Katainen, said removing him from office had been the toughest decision he had faced as the party's leader, adding that Mr Kanerva had done his job as Foreign Minister "brilliantly".