Preceded by Lars Leijonborg Succeeded by Gustav Fridolin Party Liberals Preceded by Lars Leijonborg Education Marks gymnasieskola | Succeeded by Asa Romson Spouse Anette Brifalk Preceded by Maud Olofsson Name Jan Bjorklund | |
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Party secretary Erik Ullenhag
Nina Larsson
Maria Arnholm Role Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden Office Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden since 2010 Parents Arne Bjorklund, Ragna Bjorklund Similar People Goran Hagglund, Annie Loof, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Gustav Fridolin, Stefan Lofven | ||
Jan Arne Björklund (born 18 April 1962) is a Swedish politician of the Liberals. He is the Leader of the Liberals since 2007 and has been Member of the Riksdag since 2006, representing Stockholm County. He served as Minister for Education from 2007 to 2014 and as Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2014.
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Education and military career
Jan Björklund was born in Skene (today a part of Mark Municipality), Älvsborg County (today Västra Götaland County), Sweden. His father Arne worked in the textile industry and his mother Ragna came to Sweden from Norway as a war refugee in 1944. He came from a working class home and both of his parents lack higher education.
After he had completed upper secondary education (gymnasium) in 1982, Björklund enlisted in the Swedish Armed Forces and earned the rank of officer in 1985. He then served at the royal Svea Life Guards in Stockholm, from where he retired as a major in 1994 to start a new career in politics.
Political career
Björklund early became a member of the Liberal Youth of Sweden, the youth wing of the Liberal People's Party, in 1976. He was elected as a member of board of the organization in 1983 and served as its second deputy chairman between 1985 and 1987. He has served as a member of 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 1991 Björklund was elected as a substitute member of the Stockholm City Council, where he came to serve in the city's board of education. Between 1994 and 1998 he served as an oppositional vice mayor (Swedish: oppositionsborgarråd) in Stockholm. Between 1998 and 2002 he served as vice mayor for schools (Swedish: skolborgarråd) and between 2002 and 2006 he served again as oppositional vice mayor.
In the run up to both the 2002 and 2006 elections, Björklund was chairman of the centre-right alliance's working group on education policy
Government minister and party leader
In the 2006 election Björklund was elected as a Member of Parliament, and shortly thereafter appointed as Minister for Schools in the new centre-right cabinet led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
Following Lars Leijonborgs 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 new party leader. He was elected new party leader on 7 September 2007. At the same time he also overtook Leijonborg's position as head of the Ministry of Education and Research and as Minister for Education. However, the change in minister title was merely formal as his areas of responsibility are still those that he had as Minister for Schools.
Following the 2010 general election, in which the Liberal People's Party became the second largest party in the government alliance, Björklund replaced Maud Olofsson as Deputy Prime Minister 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. 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 system.
In the run up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2002, as first deputy chairman of his party, Björklund expressed his support for Swedish participation in the multinational coalition on the condition that the invasion would receive broad international support (which it didn't).
In January 2009 Björklund criticised the recent years downsizing of the Swedish defence. "After the last years development in Russia and the war in Georgia Sweden must be able to mobilize more soldiers than we can today" he stated during an interview in Swedish news program SVT.
Personal life
Jan Björklund is married to Anette Brifalk, with whom he has two children. He lives with his family in Bromma, Stockholm.