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In her book, Thorbjørn Jagland criticizes Gro Harlem Brundtland for stepping down as Prime Minister without notice and handing over government power to her in the fall of 1996.
Under the title “A Strange Change of Government,” he writes about the day he was informed from the Storting gallery that Brundtland would seek resignation and that he had to form a government.
It was the Storting’s first spontaneous Question Time, on October 23, 1996. But Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland asked for the floor to make an announcement. A few minutes earlier, Jagland was in the hall.
I did not know anything
Jagland writes:
Gro called the night before and said, “He’ll probably be at the Storting tomorrow.” That was it. Gro herself has referred to a statement I made to the press in the spring of 1996. On speculation about how long she would sit, my response was: “Gro will continue as prime minister as long as she wants and wants.”
She never told me anything about it, but in her memoirs she writes that she did not like this statement. She told herself that “this is not the case.” I will continue as Prime Minister as long as it is the best solution. The responsibility for this evaluation is Thorbjørns. He is the leader of the elected party. He, as the leader of the party, must make a general assessment. “
– Then he writes that the press release confirmed that I now began to see a change as natural. This is not correct; my perception of the division of labor between us was different.
Shocked by Stoltenberg’s admission
Mandate of the National Assembly
Gro had as much as I a mandate from the national assembly. What she said in 1992 was that she resigned as party leader, but continued as prime minister. The National Assembly approved it. He also had a mandate from the people in elections and from the Storting.
– It did not correspond to my respect for the election and the role of the Storting that could put it aside. For a new prime minister, it would also be a very bad start, writes Jagland. He asserts that such a decision to change government should be discussed in the organs of the Labor Party.
– Also, I didn’t see that change as something that we could only report to the Storting. As if it were a change of manager at the top, secretly arranged by the person concerned, which the Storting could only take as information.
– Even in times when the Labor Party was in a majority position in the Storting, it could not be done that way. Einar Gerhardsen had to at least discuss the matter with party bodies when he wanted to hand over the helm to Oscar Torp, writes Jagland.
Thorbjørn receives less than Jens
Unthinkable time
He claims that Gro indicated to him as early as 1995 that a change could be spoken of before the 1997 elections, but that it was not a specific moment. When spring came without her taking over the case, Jagland deemed it irrelevant.
– The first chance after the Storting representatives parted ways in the spring would be when the Storting opened in the fall of 1996.
Then it would be only a few months until the parliamentary elections. I never thought the Labor Party could change crews at that point, writes Jagland.
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Jagland is referring to a Dagbladet opinion poll of the party’s leaders. Jagland fared well compared to the others, particularly compared to Tory leader Jan Petersen.
– But he knew what to expect and was convinced that it would be too late to wait until the fall of ’96, writes Jagland. He believes that it was too short a time for the election campaign and next year’s elections. His new government received the budget proposal from the old government.
-The Storting and the King as rounding buoy
– I myself was satisfied with the situation, because I certainly did not want a change of government just before an important parliamentary election. Unfortunately, what happened was marked by a change of person at the top organized by the Labor Party with the Storting and the king as the rounding buoy. We immediately notice it in the ministers of the resigned government, writes Jagland.
He notes that several of the ministers who were not asked to join his government “behaved as if they had been deposed,” despite the Brundtland government.
The battle with Stoltenberg: Jagland’s version
Switch at the top
– People in the Prime Minister’s office assumed they would continue, but the Brundtland government resigned. After his resignation, he deposed all the ministers. Those who weren’t asked to join my government were simply not asked, like many others.
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– I had to form my own government. Being appointed a minister is a privilege granted to you, not something to which you are entitled. The change of scenery and the way it happened, however, gave even the most experienced reason to misinterpret them. The change didn’t seem to apply to them, just the two at the top, Jagland writes.
Jagland was elected party leader at a dramatic national meeting in the fall of 1992, when Gro Harlem Brundtland announced that he would resign as party leader. In his memoirs, Brundtland has acknowledged that he had loved Jens Stoltenberg. He was also aware of one of the deputy leaders, Gunnar Berge. When Jagland asked him directly during the national meeting, he also replied that he thought Stoltenberg was more suitable, he writes in his book “Dramatic Years”.
Jens received no support from Oslo
One of those who worked for Stoltenberg was the newly elected leader of the AUF, Trond Giske. Stoltenberg writes in his book that after talking with his wife Ingrid Schulerud and with a background in the family situation, he decided not to be a candidate. Jagland was chosen. In his book, Jagland writes:
– Jens says he and his wife Ingrid sat all night until Sunday and discussed whether to ask. They concluded that he was too young and did not fit in with the family.
What he doesn’t say, however, is a phone call he made to Britt Hildeng on Saturday night that couldn’t be interpreted any other way than the one he was interested in asking. Jens was the leader of the Oslo Labor Party, Deputy Leader Britt Hildeng. At the national meeting, Britt was chairman of the Oslo delegation, as Jens was fully occupied as chairman of the meeting’s editorial committee.
He wanted to know from Britt how things were at the Oslo delegation. She replied that her clear assessment was that there was no majority for him in the delegation. He also said that he would not support Jens if he ran for office. According to Britt, he was calm on the other end, writes Jagland.
He accuses the former party profile of propaganda
Created a “Jens myth”
The next morning, the chairman of the nominating committee, Yngve Hågensen, called Stoltenberg. He then said he was willing to run for vice president.
– When the recommendation was presented to the national assembly, Sverre Myrli from AUF in Akershus spoke and said that it was regrettable that the national assembly did not have the opportunity to vote and obtain a renewal of the party leadership. I also thought it was a shame there was no vote, but it was Jens Stoltenberg’s decision that it didn’t happen.
– I would have shown up to vote. There, however, the myth was created that Jens Stoltenberg had a majority in the national assembly, something that VG quickly played and maintained for years to come, writes Jagland.
