[ad_1]
Dagbladet today gained access to Trine Skei Grande’s biography “Upright”.
Here he tells his version of the ups and downs as party leader in the Liberal Party and minister in the government of Erna Solberg.
One of the things he spends his time on is how he experienced what has been called “the Trine coup”:
When she replaced her colleague Ola Elvestuen as Minister of Climate and Environment, and put her supposedly fiercer competitors in the leadership presidency Sveinung Rotevatn and Abid Raja.
Replacing Ola Elvestuen was cumbersome, but necessary, Grande believes.
– Loss of contact with the party.
The reason was that the FRP had just left the Solberg government. He made room for new people.
According to Grande, there was an expectation of renewal in the party and he says that two names stood out: Sveinung Rotevatn and Abid Raja.
– The problem was that we only had one new ministerial position to fill. “Grande writes. She writes that there was no demand in the party that Ola Elvestuen have to continue.
“For Ola, it’s about politics, about the results you achieve. A completely understanding attitude, but it can also lead you to lose the support you have at a party, Grande writes and continues:
“It was one of the most difficult decisions I had to make as party leader and, in many ways, unfair, but still absolutely necessary,” he writes.
Ole Elvestuen has stated that he believes Grande did not listen to the party, but to himself.
Rotevatn would challenge
Grande writes that her plan was for Sveinung Rotevatn to become Minister for Climate and Environment, Abid Raja Minister for Trade and Industry and Iselin Nybø to take over from Grande as Minister for Culture.
But when he asked Rotevant if he would take over the leadership of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, he was surprised.
“He said that he would like to become a minister, but also that he was considering challenging me as the leader of our national meeting a few months later,” Grande writes.
She thinks it was open and honest of her to put it bluntly.
“But at the same time, it would be completely absurd if a minister voted against an incumbent party leader who was also in government,” writes Grande. She thought it would make her cooperation within the government very difficult.
“I told him that too. If he wanted to take up the fight to become party leader, it was fine with me, but then I had to do it from a different position than minister. Sveinung needed to think about that, so I let him have something of time to himself, “Grande writes in the book.
Grande also writes that she also informed Rotevatn that she had plans to resign as party leader within a year.
You hereby largely confirm the case of VG journalist Eirik Mosveen on this, even though Grande herself believes that it is not correct to say that she signed an agreement with Rotevatn.
Rotevatn writes in a message to Dagbladet that he has not read the book and has no comment on it.
Foot down for Raja
Trine Skei Grande also writes that Abid Raja considered running for a party vote at the national meeting, but “put the idea aside” when asked if he wanted to become Minister of Commerce and Industry.
It also confirms that Prime Minister Erna Solberg was the first to support Abid Raja, something Grande says came as a big surprise to her.
“Erna was very skeptical when I told her that I wanted Abid to become Minister of Commerce and Industry. Abid had a reputation as a solo player who did not relate loyally to the strategies and plans adopted, and Erna did not want a minister either. completely new in a ministry as complex as the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. ” write Big.
According to Grande, Raja took it badly and thought it was something that Grande himself had planned to avoid accepting as a minister.
“I understood that it would be a living response if he did not persuade Erna to let him go.” She writes.
It was the Prime Minister who finally came to the conclusion that Raja could become Minister of Culture and that Iselin Nybø obtained the post of Minister of Commerce and Industry.
“Appointing my challengers ministers would have been an abuse of power, but I had not done it to secure my own position.” The only objective I had was to avoid a conflict in the party that could destroy us, “says Grande.
I haven’t read the book
“I want to thank Trine again for the efforts she has made for the party and for the confidence she showed me by taking me to the government. Becoming Minister of Culture and Gender Equality in the Norwegian government is the greatest thing that has happened to me in my job. I have not read the book and, of course, Trine has the right to present his personal version, beyond this, I will not comment on the book, “says Abid Raja in a comment to the book.
Dagbladet failed to get a comment from Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) today.
