The party's founder, the former lawyer Mogens Glistrup, gained widespread popularity as well as notoriety in the country after he appeared on Danish television, stating that he paid 0% in income tax.

[11][12] The party's initial issues were less bureaucracy, abolition of the income tax and simpler law paragraphs.

The party also became well-known for Gilstrup's unique sense of humour such as the proposal for the entire Ministry of Defence to be replaced by an answering machine with the recorded message "We surrender" in Russian.

[11] Returning to the party after his release in 1987, Glistrup was no longer in control of it[11] and internal strife broke out again.

[13] Glistrup refused to vote in favour of a proposition which had been agreed with the government in 1988 and was stripped of his position as a representative for the party.

[11][13] While liberals remained in the tax-focused Progress Party, the new DF included those who were concerned with immigration as their main issue.

[15] Glistrup led the party for the 2001 Danish parliamentary election, but it had lost almost all its support and received less than one percent of the vote.