Jan Arne Björklund (born 18 April 1962) is a Swedish

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician. He was member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

from 2006 to 2019, representing

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

, and served as leader of the Liberals from 2007 to 2019. Björklund served as Minister for Education from 2007 to 2014, and as

Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden The deputy prime minister of Sweden ( sv, Ställföreträdande statsminister) is the deputy head of government of Sweden. The incumbent deputy prime minister is Ebba Busch. The Swedish constitution allows the prime minister to appoint one of th ...

from 2010 to 2014. He was designated Swedish Ambassador to Italy on 28 May 2020 and took office on 1 September 2020.

Early life

Björklund was born in

Skene Skene may refer to: * Skene, Aberdeenshire, a community in North East Scotland, United Kingdom * Skene, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Mississippi, United States * Skene, Sweden, a village now part of Kinna, Sweden * Skene (automobi ...

(today a part of

Mark Municipality Mark Municipality (''Marks kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in southwest Sweden. The municipal seat is located in the center of Kinna town. The municipality was created through the Municipal Reform Act of 1971 by the amalg ...

Älvsborg County Älvsborg County ( sv, Älvsborgs län) was a county of Sweden until 1997, when it was merged with the counties of Gothenburg & Bohus and Skaraborg to form Västra Götaland County. The county corresponded to the traditional province of Dals ...

(today

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

), Sweden. His father, Arne, worked in the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

; his mother, Ragna, came to Sweden from Norway as a

war refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

in 1944. He came from a

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

home, and both of his parents lacked

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

. After he had completed upper secondary education ('' gymnasium'') in 1982, Björklund enlisted in the

Swedish Armed Forces The Swedish Armed Forces ( sv, Försvarsmakten, "the Defense Force") is the government agency that forms the armed forces of Sweden, tasked with the defense of the country as well as with promoting Sweden's wider interests, supporting internati ...

, and earned the rank of

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

in 1985. He then served in the royal

Svea Life Guards The Svea Life Guards ( sv, Svea livgarde), also I 1, was a Swedish Army infantry regiment that was active in various forms 1521–2000. The unit was based in the Stockholm Garrison in Stockholm and belonged to the King's Life and Household Tro ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, from which he retired as a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in 1994 to start a new career in politics.

Political career

Björklund early became a member of the

Liberal Youth of Sweden The Liberal Youth of Sweden ( sv, Liberala ungdomsförbundet, LUF) is the youth wing of the Swedish Liberals. The Liberal Youth of Sweden has a long tradition of international cooperation and is a full member of the International Federation of ...

, the youth wing of the Liberal People's Party, in 1976. He was elected a member of the board of the Liberal Youth in 1983, and served as its second deputy chairman between 1985 and 1987. He has served as a member of the board of the Liberal People's Party since 1990. He joined the party's leadership in 1995, became second deputy chairman in 1997, and first deputy chairman in 2001. In the 1991 Swedish general election, Björklund was elected as a substitute member of the Stockholm City Council, where he came to serve on the city's board of education. Between 1994 and 1998, he served as an oppositional vice mayor ( sv, oppositionsborgarråd) in

. Between 1998 and 2002, he served as vice mayor for schools ( sv, skolborgarråd), and between 2002 and 2006, he served again as oppositional vice mayor. In the run-up to both the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

general elections, Björklund was chairman of the centre-right Alliance for Sweden's working group on education policy.

Government minister and party leader

In the 2006 election, Björklund was elected to the

; shortly thereafter, he was appointed Minister for Schools in the new centre-right cabinet led by Prime Minister

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, and former politician who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014, and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He ...

. Following

Lars Leijonborg Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was born ...

's decision to retire as party leader at the Liberal People's Party's national meeting in September 2007, Björklund was unanimously nominated by the party's election committee as the new party leader. He was elected new party leader on 7 September 2007. At the same time, he also took over Leijonborg's positions as head of the Ministry of Education and Research, and as Minister for Education. The change in his title as minister was merely formal, as his areas of responsibility were still those that he had as Minister for Schools. Following the

2010 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 2010 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance, consisting of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, t ...

, in which the Liberal People's Party became the second-largest party in the government coalition, Björklund replaced

Maud Olofsson Maud Elisabeth Olofsson (born ''Olsson'', 9 August 1955) is a former Swedish politician who was the leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 2001 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise and Energy from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden ...

on 5 October 2010.

Political views

Björklund is often seen as a representative of the more right-wing, hard-edged faction of the Liberal Party. He has focused most on school issues, where he is known for his support for orderliness and

discipline Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...

. He has criticized the Swedish schools system for being too "dopey", and not focusing enough on knowledge. Among other things, he has advocated more frequent assessments and a reformed

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

system. In 2002, during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as first deputy chairman of his party, Björklund expressed his support for Swedish participation in the multinational coalition on condition that the invasion received broad international support, which it did not. In January 2009, Björklund criticised the downsizing in recent years of the

. During an interview on Swedish news program SVT, he stated: "After the last years development in Russia, and the war in Georgia, Sweden must be able to mobilize more soldiers than we can today." In 2019, Björklund got his wish to abolish the austerity tax (''Värnskatten''), a top tax rate of 5% points for incomes above €6,000 a month, in turn for supporting

Stefan Löfven Kjell Stefan Löfven (; officially ''Löfvén''; born 21 July 1957) is a Swedish politician who serves as the Party of European Socialists, President of European Socialists since October 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Sweden fro ...

as prime minister.

Personal life

Björklund married Anette Brifalk in 1992, with whom he has two adopted children, Gustav and Jesper. He lives with his family in

Bromma Bromma () is a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airport in Sweden and the th ...

, Stockholm. He was a celebrity dancer in Let's Dance 2020 to be broadcast on

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

Bibliography

References

External links

Jan Björklund
at the Swedish government's website
Jan Björklund
at the Liberals' website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorklund, Jan 1962 births Leaders of political parties in Sweden Members of the Riksdag from the Liberals (Sweden) Living people Male feminists Members of the Riksdag 2006–2010 Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014 Members of the Riksdag 2014–2018 Members of the Riksdag 2018–2022 People from Mark Municipality Swedish Army officers Swedish feminists Swedish Ministers for Schools Swedish Ministers for Education Swedish people of Norwegian descent