''Anders'' Per-Arne Björck (born 19 September 1944) is a Swedish

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who was Minister for Defence from 1991 to 1994 and

Governor of Uppsala County This is a list of governors for Uppsala County of Sweden. Uppsala County and Stockholm County separated from Uppland County, the first time from 1641 to 1654, and then finally in 1719. Governors First Period * Göran Gyllenstierna, the elder ...

from 2003 to 2009.

Early life

Björck was born on 19 September 1944 in

Nässjö Nässjö () is a locality and the seat of Nässjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 31,782 inhabitants in 2024. History For many years, Nässjö was a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point wa ...

, Sweden, the son of Arne Björck and his wife Ann-Marie (née Svensson). He attended Centralskolan in Nässjö and passed ''

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968, ...

'' at Nässjö läroverk in 1966.

Career

Swedish was interested in politics from an early stage. He was national chairman of the

Moderate Youth League The Moderate Youth League ( ; MUF), officially known in English as the Swedish Young Conservatives, is the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party. Of the political youth organizations that received financial support from the Swedish Agency ...

, or the ''Rightist Youth League'' (''Högerns ungdomsförbund'') as it was known at the time of his election. He was the first truly young – only 21 – chairman of the Youth League – his predecessor was 35 years old. Before that he served as national chairman of the Conservative School Youth, today known as the Moderate School Youth, from 1961 to 1963. In 1968, aged only 22, he was elected to the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

for the Rightist Party (''Högerpartiet'') which became the Moderate Party in 1969. In 1989 he was elected president of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

and served until 1991, when the Moderate Party won the election and

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He led the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, appearing as its lead candidate in four general elections, b ...

was allowed to form a government. He was appointed Minister for Defence. When the Moderates lost the 1994 election he became vice speaker of the Riksdag, a position he held until 2002. Björck was known to belong to the so-called "Bunker gang", a group of politicians and advisors forming the inner circle around party leader Carl Bildt. Between 2003 and 2009, Björck was

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Uppsala County Uppsala County () is a county or '' län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, and the Baltic Sea. Province The nor ...

. Anders Björck has continued to speak up on political issues from time to time. He remains rather

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, compared to other Moderates, and has on numerous occasions spoken up against what he perceives as the growing influence of

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

in the Moderate Party.

Personal life

In 1975, Björck married Py-Lotte von Zweigbergk (born 1948), the daughter of Sverker von Zweigbergk and Astrid (née Sigström). They have one daughter, Anne Björck.

Awards and decorations

H. M. The King's Medal, 12th size gold (silver-gilt) medal worn around the neck on the Order of the Seraphim ribbon (2003) * AUT Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria - 2nd Class BAR

AUT Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria - 2nd Class BAR

Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (1994)

Honours

*Chairman of the Sällskapet *Chairman of the Swedish Pistol Shooting Association (''Svenska pistolskytteförbundet'') from 2003 to 2009 *Honorary member of the

Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy () in Uppsala is one of 18 Swedish royal academies and dedicated to the study of Swedish folklore. Its name is often expanded to ("...for Swedish Folk Culture"). The Academy was founded on 6 November 1932, on ...

*Honorary member of the Swedish Pistol Shooting Association (''Svenska pistolskytteförbundet'') *Member of the

Swedish Order of Freemasons The Swedish Order of Freemasons () is a Swedish fraternal order of freemasonry, founded in 1735 as the oldest still active Swedish fraternal order. It is the native Swedish manifestation of Swedish Rite Freemasonry, recognised by the United Grand ...

*Member of the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Odd Fellows, Order ...

*''Årets smålänning'' (" Smålänning of the Year") (1988)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorck, Anders 1944 births Living people Ministers for defence of Sweden Members of the Riksdag from the Moderate Party Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Governors of Uppsala County People from Nässjö