Right-wing leader Bård Ludvig Thorheim in Nordland is silent after criticism from Oslo – NRK

On Tuesday night, Prime Minister Erna Solberg called a press conference.

There, he apologized for the interference of the Prime Minister’s Office in criticizing the handling of the Oslo crown.

This after the mayor of Molde, Torgeir Dahl, came to Oslo with harsh criticism, after having been in contact with the secretary of state at SMK, Peder Egseth.

During the press conference, Erna Solberg confirmed that Egseth had been in contact with several local Conservative leaders where the subject was the crown game.

One of them is Nordland’s first candidate for the Conservative Party Storting, Bård Ludvig Thorheim.

– In addition to Dahl, Peder has had a dialogue with Frode Revhaug and Bård Ludvig Thorheim. He contacted Bård Ludvig on Saturday after Tuva Moflag’s proposal to change the vaccine strategy, Solberg said.

Unclear dialogue

On Saturday night, NRK had a case in Kveldsnytt, where Thorheim was interviewed. The interview was also part of an online case at nrk.no on Sunday morning.

There, Thorheim was highly critical of Oslo’s demand for more vaccines at the expense of other parts of the country.

– We have reduced the infection in large and small municipalities throughout the country, without asking for priority and more vaccines. I think it is wrong that Oslo is given priority and given more vaccines because they cannot reduce the infection.

On Tuesday, however, the government, led by Erna Solberg, decided that Oslo should receive more vaccines at the expense of municipalities with little infection.

Contrary to what Bård Ludvig Thorheim thought was correct on Saturday.

When NRK contacts him Tuesday night, he doesn’t want to say anything more about the case.

Therefore, it is unclear what the dialogue between Egseth and Thorheim was about. It’s also unclear whether he still thinks it’s wrong for Oslo to get more vaccines.

It seems that the acting editor-in-chief of Avisa Nordland, Markus Rask Jensen, is strange.

– Seen in light of what the government’s policy will be in this area, it seems a bit strange. One may wonder a bit about how talkative one is in the government apparatus and what is the strategy in this, without me having an overview of the dialogue between Thorheim and the Secretary of State, he tells NRK, adding:

– I think both Thorheim and the Conservatives would have benefited from being as open as possible in this case.

Distributed differently

On Tuesday, it became clear that Norway’s vaccines will be distributed differently, and cities with high infection pressure, such as Oslo, will receive more vaccines than municipalities with less infection.

Bodø, Thorheim’s hometown, is one of the cities receiving the fewest vaccinations after the government decided there should be a skewed distribution.

It was on VG on Sunday that Molde Mayor Torgeir Dahl took a hard line against the leadership in Oslo and thought they had mishandled the crown situation.

NRK was able to reveal yesterday that Secretary of State Peder Egseth in the prime minister’s office was in dialogue with the mayor of Molde before the latter’s controversial proposal in VG.

– Contributing to initiatives that generate conflict between the management of different municipalities is not the task of SMK. Based on the VG case, I have had a longer conversation with Peder Egseth. He has reviewed which local Conservative Party politicians he has had contact with in connection with this case, says Solberg.