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Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (born 28 July 1978) is a
Norwegian 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 ...
,
MP for the
Conservative Party who served as
Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
from 2020 to 2021.
[NRK
The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company.
The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...]
> He previously served as
Minister of Trade and Industry from 2018 to 2020 and
Minister of Education and Research from October 2013 to January 2018; except from September to November 2017 when he was on
parental leave
Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...
and his duties were undertaken by
Henrik Asheim.
Career
Early career
Isaksen edited the newspaper ''
Xtra'', published by the
Young Conservatives (''Unge Høyre''), the youth wing of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2004, and he was the leader of the Young Conservatives from 2004 to 2008. Prior to entering politics full-time, Isaksen worked as a freelance journalist and was the political editor in the gazette ''
Minerva
Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...
''. Isaksen holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Oslo. His master's thesis was on
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek (8 May 1899 – 23 March 1992) was an Austrian-born British academic and philosopher. He is known for his contributions to political economy, political philosophy and intellectual history. Hayek shared the 1974 Nobe ...
.
In 2007, he was named Norway's most talented young politician by
VG.
In 2008, he published the book ''The Right Turn. For a New Conservatism'', which was printed in three editions.
Parliament
Hailing from
Porsgrunn
is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...
, he served as a deputy representative to the
Norwegian Parliament
The Storting ( ; ) 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 based on party-list proportional represe ...
from
Telemark
Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...
during the 2005–2009 term. In the
2009 election he was the top candidate for the Telemark Conservatives and was elected to
the parliament for the first time.
Minister
Isaksen served as minister throughout Erna Solberg’s tenure as prime minister, although heading different ministries.
Minister of Education
Following the 2013 election, Isaksen was appointed minister of education in Solberg’s cabinet. He retained the post following the 2017 election, but was on parental leave from 15 September to 26 November. He then held the post until the Liberal Party joined the government on 17 January 2018.
Minister of Trade and Industry
After the Liberal Party joined the government on 17 January 2018, Isaksen was appointed minister of trade and industry.
On 27 June, he announced that the Norwegian state would withdraw from its ownership of
SAS, which included 9,88% of the stocks in the company. He stated: “SAS has had a positive development recently, and I have great faith that the company will work purposefully to further improve its competitive position. We believe this is a good time to sell out of the company”. He went on to say: “There is no reason to believe that changed ownership will affect workplaces, grids or other operational conditions in the company. The current structure is already the result of commercial assessments by the company, and not of state ownership”.
In late March 2019, Isaksen expressed support for the permanent solution of having only summer time, instead of both standard and summer time.
Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion
Isakaen was appointed minister of labour and social inclusion on 24 January 2020 after the Progress Party withdrew from government.
After
Geir-Inge Sivertsen
Geir-Inge Sivertsen (born 29 August 1965) is a Norwegian engineer and politician for the Conservative Party. He is currently the mayor of Senja since 2023. He served as minister of fisheries from January to March 2020, and previously served as ...
resigned as Minister of Fisheries in March 2020, Isaksen was acting minister for eleven days before
Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen’s appointment.
[Adresseavisen
(; commonly known as ''Adressa'') is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. The paper has been in circulation since 1767 and is one of the oldest newspapers in Norway after Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler which ...]
>
On 27 May 2020, he stated to ''