Tor Mikkel Wara (born 27 December 1964) is a Norwegian politician from the Progress Party, who has served as Justice and Immigration Minister from 2018 to 2019 after the resignation of Sylvi Listhaug.

Biography

Early career

Wara was born in

Karasjok ( se, Kárášjohka ; fkv, Kaarasjoki) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karasjok. Other villages include Dorvonjárga, Šuoššjávri, and Váljohka. The ...

, and was a member of the

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

municipality council between 1987 and 1989. During the same period he was the chairman of the Youth of the Progress Party, and became known as a young rising star within the party. He was elected to the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

for the Progress Party from

in 1989, and became deputy leader of the party in 1991. In 1993, he left the Progress Party and quit active politics. While he was one of the main players of the young

libertarians Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...

within the party in the early 1990s, he was contrary to popular belief not part of the " Dolkesjø" incident in 1994, having left the party the year before.

Later career

As the leadership of the Progress Party in 2006 changed hands from Carl I. Hagen to

Siv Jensen Siv Jensen (born 1 June 1969) is a Norwegian who served as the leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2021. She also held the position as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2020 in the Solberg Cabinet. She was also a member of the Norwegian pa ...

, Wara was before the 2009 election spoken of as a possible

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

for the party in an eventual government, with the recent broad popular support for the party.

Minister of Justice

On 4 April 2018, he was appointed Minister of Justice by

Erna Solberg Erna Solberg (; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the 35th prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. Solberg w ...

, following the resignation of Sylvi Listhaug making a controversial post on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. On 30 April 2018, Wara took part in a

Dagsrevyen ''Dagsrevyen'' (English: ''The Daily Review'') is the daily evening news programme for the Norwegian television channel NRK1, the main channel of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), broadcast at 19:00. In 2007, the programme started air ...

debate with the Governing Mayor of Oslo,

Raymond Johansen Raymond Johansen (born 14 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party who has been Governing Mayor of Oslo since 2015. A former member of the Socialist Left Party, Johansen previously served as the Oslo city commissioner for tr ...

regarding immigration in Oslo. Wara notably blamed gang criminality on the increase of immigration in the capital. He further added that gang issues was attributed to ethnic and cultural issues, and that it was the reason for why it was important to stop immigration in Oslo. Johansen defended the city’s handling of immigration, citing increase in borough spending and the strengthening of kindergartens and better opportunities to learn Norwegian. In November 2018, a photo of Wara's private residence was used on stage for political commentary in the play ''Ways of Seeing'', a production of the Black Box theatre in

. Wara's long-term live-in partner Laila Anita Bertheussen along with Prime Minister

sharply criticized the production for exposing the Wara household in this manner, and in December 2018, Bertheussen filed a formal complaint against the theatre. On 7 December 2018, Wara condemned the threats and called it “an attack on Norwegian democracy. It’s bad and serious”. Over the following months, the family received threatening letters and their house was vandalized with graffiti, before the apparent harassment culminated on 10 March 2019 with an arson attack on their car. Wara took a leave of absence on 15 March, with

Jon Georg Dale Jon Georg Dale (born 16 June 1984) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 2018 to 2020 and Minister of Agriculture and Food from 2015 to 2018. He was also acting Minister of Ju ...

serving as acting justice minister until further. However, four days after the arson attack, Bertheussen was arrested on suspicion of having staged the entire harassment campaign herself, prompting Wara to resign his position on 28 March. The trial concluded on 13 November 2020. Accused of endangering democracy, Bertheussen potentially faced up to 16 years in prison. On 15 January 2021, she was sentenced to one year and eight months prison for three of four charges.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wara, Tor Mikkel 1964 births Living people Progress Party (Norway) politicians Members of the Storting People from Karasjok 20th-century Norwegian politicians Ministers of Justice of Norway