Tomas Morgan Johansson (born 14 May 1970) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician of the Social Democrats who served 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 2019 to 2022. He served as

Minister for Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

from 2014 to 2022 and as

minister for home affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 2021 to 2022, having previously served in that position from 2017 to 2019. He also served as Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy from 2014 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2021. Johansson was previously Minister for Public Health and Social Services in the

Persson Cabinet Göran Persson served as Prime Minister of Sweden between 22 March 1996 and 6 October 2006. Persson took over after Ingvar Carlsson, who retired as party leader and Prime Minister. Following the 2006 general election, he and the Persson Cab ...

from 2002 to 2006 and has been a 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 ...

for the southern

Skåne County Skåne County ( sv, Skåne län, link=no ), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the most southern county, or , of Sweden, basically corresponding to the traditional province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronobe ...

electoral district since the 1998 elections. As a member of the opposition, he was Chairman of the

Committee on Justice (Parliamentary) Committee on Justice ( sv, justitieutskottet) (JuU) is a parliamentary committee in the Swedish Riksdag. The committee's main areas of responsibility concern Judiciary policies on various different authorities, among other th ...

of the Riksdag from 2010 to 2014.

Career

Early career

Johansson worked as a journalist and editorial writer for the social democratic daily newspaper ''Arbetet Nyheterna'' 1994-1997 and as a political expert in the Prime Minister's Office from 1997 to 1998. In 2010, author Christer Isaksson described Johansson as a member of the left-leaning faction of the Social Democratic Party. He is also a member of the Swedish Humanist Association and has previously served on the association board.

Minister of Justice

Johansson was appointed minister of justice on 3 October 2014 in Stefan Löfven’s cabinet. On 23 March 2015, Johansson was attacked at the Broby hospital asylum center in Broby,

Östra Göinge Municipality Östra Göinge Municipality (''Östra Göinge kommun'') is a municipality in Scania County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in Broby. The present municipality was formed in 1974 when the former municipalities of ''Broby'', ''Glimåkra'', ...

, Skåne. A 25-year-old man charged at Johansson and sprayed him with a fire extinguisher. The attacker was quickly apprehended and Johansson was not injured in what was referred to as a premeditated assault. In November 2019, the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...

issued a vote of no confidence at Johansson due to the escalating

gang crime A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

and the ongoing bombing campaign. The no confidence vote was supported by

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

and the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

but at 151 votes against the needed 175, did not have enough votes in the

to carry. The no confidence vote was interpreted as a signal from those three opposition parties that the government was losing control of the situation. On 26 December 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Johansson was seen shopping at Nova Lund, a small shopping mall in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

. He was accompanied with several bodyguards. This was criticised because he violated the recommendations from the

Public Health Agency of Sweden The Public Health Agency of Sweden ( sv, Folkhälsomyndigheten, abbreviated ''Fohm'') is a Swedish government agency with national responsibility for public health. It falls under the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and works to promote ...

. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven condemned the act, saying it was "careless". On 12 December 2021, Johansson stated that the Stockholm police had failed in fighting crime. He also mentioned that municipalities that failed fighting crime could learn from those who successfully did so. He also specified that there were boundaries for how far the government would go when it came to legislation. He also said he didn’t want to go further with body searches and raising the limit for exclude severe criminal gang members. On 2 June 2022, the

announced a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in Johansson due to what they perceived as inaction against criminal gangs. The motion was supported by the

Moderates Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

, and the Liberals. Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson called the motion "irresponsible" and could have "serious consequences", adding that if the motion is passed, the entire government would resign. Johansson himself stated that the opposition parties were utilising attacks on his person and argued that they did not have any better solutions to reduce the recruitment of people into criminal gangs. Ultimately, the motion failed with 174 votes in favour, one short of the required 175, with independent

Amineh Kakabaveh Amineh Kakabaveh (, fa, اَمینه کاکاباوه; born 6 December 1970) is a Swedish independent politician of Iranian Kurdish descent. Having been a member of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan since her youth, she took refuge in Swede ...

being the key vote in abstaining.

References

External links