Sten Sture Tolgfors (born 17 July 1966 in

Forshaga Forshaga is a locality and the seat of Forshaga Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 6,229 inhabitants in 2010. Industry The municipality has more than 850 small and medium-sized companies across a broad spectrum of industries. A number ...

) is a Swedish former politician, public affairs executive and government official who is serving as Governor of Västra Götaland County since 1 September 2022, having been appointed to the position on 9 June 2022. He served as Minister of Commerce and Industry 2006-2007 and as Minister for Defence from 2007 until his resignation in 2012. He was a

Member of the Swedish Parliament Members of Parliament (Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag. Description ''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the Riksdag. In Swedish, an MP is usually referred to ...

for

Örebro County Örebro County ( sv, Örebro län) is a county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanland and Östergötland. It is frequently culturally divided into the hilly no ...

from 1994 to 2013.

Early life and career

Tolgfors was born in

as the son of Sture and Anna Brita Kajsa Tolgfors but was raised in

Åmål Åmål () is a locality and the seat of Åmål Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 9,065 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated on the western shore of Vänern. In 2005 Åmål received second prize in the international competit ...

. He lives in

Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, an ...

with his wife and children. Tolgfors has a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

from the University of Örebro, and has a background in the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. In local politics he served in the Örebro

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

from 1991 to 1994. He was a political adviser in the Ministry of Defense from 1992 to 1993, and in the Ministry of Enterprise from 1993 to 1994. He is a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to obje ...

, meaning that he refused to carry arms when called to Swedish mandatory military service. He served in the

instead of doing the

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft ( conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) requ ...

. However, he changed his mind completely when he saw a few photos from

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

's massacre of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i Kurds. A survey conducted by Swedish radio news in November 2008 among local party chairman for the four Alliance parties, showed that Tolgfors was the most unpopular minister in the government.

Political Appointments

As a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

he has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the Committee on Enterprise from 1994 to 1998. Since then he has been a member of the

Committee on Education (Parliamentary) Committee on Education ( sv, utbildningsutskottet) (UbU) is a parliamentary committee in the Swedish Riksdag. The committee's areas of responsibility concern School, Preschool, Higher education, Research on Education, along wit ...

from 1998 to 2002, and again from 2003 to 2006. He was a member of the

Committee on Social Insurance (Parliamentary) Committee on Social Insurance ( sv, socialförsäkringsutskottet) (SfU) is a parliamentary committee in the Swedish Riksdag. The committee's areas of responsibility concern health insurance, pensions, policies on families, asyl ...

from 2002 to 2003. Since 2003 he has been a member of the

executive board A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

of the

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 ...

. From 2002 to 2003 he was the party's refugee policy spokesman and was later the party's education policy representative between 2003 and 2006. For a short period after the 2006 general election and before his appointment as Minister of Commerce and Industry, Tolgfors was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Tolgfors has consistently been involved in

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an i ...

issues during his parliamentary period, and considers among other things, that schools should use research-based program that provides proven efficacy. He has also campaigned in favor of people with disabilities to a school that is tailored to their needs.

Minister of Commerce and Industry

On 24 October 2006, Tolgfors was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industry, succeeding Maria Borelius. He left office on 12 September 2007 when he succeeded Mikael Odenberg as Minister for Defence. Odenberg had resigned in protest to the government's defence cuts.

Minister for Defence

Tolgfors completed the transition from invasion to operational defense and among other things, abolished conscription. He has also brought 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 internat ...

on his policies, and also implemented the reforms (he wanted). He is the first Minister for Defence who has managed to balance the budget of the Swedish Armed Forces. He was also the only minister of defence worldwide that was a conscientious objector^{f what? not clear/sup> and thus he was not popular among high officers .

Resignation

Tolgfors received negative attention in March 2012 over the way he dealt with the issue concerning the so-called Project Simoom

Project Simoom was the name of a business case involving the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) and Saudi Arabia, which aimed to build a propellant and explosives factory in Saudi Arabia to modify anti-tank weapon systems Details about the pr ...
.
Later the same day Tolgfors was registered by Gustav Fridolin

Per Gustav Edvard Fridolin (born 10 May 1983) is a Swedish journalist, author, teacher and former politician who served as Minister for Education from 2014 to 2019 and as one of two spokespersons of the Green Party from 2011 to 2019.

He was a P ...
to the Constitution Committee on plans for a weapons factory in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
.

A scandal ensued, and on 29 March 2012, Tolgfors resigned.

Later career

Tolgfors submitted his resignation from the Swedish Parliament

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 s ...
on 25 January 2013. He left his seat on 31 January 2013 and was succeeded by Lotta Olsson.

Tolgfors quickly moved from his position as a minister to become an arms lobbyist at the public affairs agency Rud Pedersen - with less than six months between his resignation and his new job. As a result Tolgfors drew heavy criticism.

References

External links

Sten Tolgfors
at the Riksdag website

Sten Tolgfors
at the 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 ...
website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolgfors, Sten
1966 births
Living people
People from Forshaga Municipality
Members of the Riksdag from the Moderate Party
Swedish Ministers for Trade
Swedish Ministers for Defence
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class
Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006
Örebro University alumni}