Ulf Kristersson

Ulf Kristersson was born in Lund, Skåne, to Lars Kristersson (1938–2015) and Karin Kristersson.[4] The family moved to Torshälla outside Eskilstuna five years later.[5] In his youth Ulf Kristersson was a troupe gymnast.[6] Kristersson finished secondary school at S:t Eskils gymnasium in Eskilstuna and completed a degree in economics at Uppsala University.[7]

In connection with the general election of 1985, he was employed as a campaigner at MUF in Sörmland.[8] On 26 November 1988, he rose to become new Chairman of MUF succeeding Beatrice Ask.[9] In 1991, the centre-right Bildt Cabinet took power and Kristersson became a Member of the Riksdag (MP).[10] He served in the Social Security Committee. He soon become a vocal critic of the government's crisis agreement with Social Democrats. At the time, Kristersson developed a friendship with the former party leader, Gösta Bohman, who in some respects also supported his criticism of the Bildt Cabinet.[11]

In 1992, Kristresson was challenged as chairman of MUF by Fredrik Reinfeldt.[12] The congress was preceded by considerable ideological divisions between Libertarians and Conservatives. All this erupted at the congress in Lycksele, which came to be known as the Battle of Lycksele.[13] Kristersson, the Libertarian alternative, lost narrowly. It is said that his loss caused his withdrawal from front-line politics and he was subsequently known as part of "Lost Generation" of the Moderate Party.[14] From 1995 to 1998, Kristersson was chief of marketing at Timbro.

Kristersson left his parliamentary seat in April 2000, feeling that the new party leader Bo Lundgren declined his services.[15] Kristersson worked for two years in the private sector, mainly as communications director and VP for the internet consultancy Adcore,[16] a dotcom crash casualty.

He returned to active politics in 2002 as Commissioner (Mayor) for Finance in Strängnäs and served there until 2006.[5] In 2006, he was appointed Vice Mayor (Socialborgarråd) in Stockholm responsible for the social welfare and labour division.[4] Kristersson was also asked by Fredrik Reinfeldt to lead the committee responsible for developing a new family policy for the party.[14] He immediately caused controversy by suggesting that fathers must take a month of paternity leave for the family to receive all benefits.[5] This was clearly in conflict with traditional Moderate Party policy, which has centred on individual choice.[5]

On 5 October 2010, Fredrik Reinfeldt appointed Kristersson to become Minister of Social Security, a position he held for four years.[17] After the 2014 election the Reinfeldt cabinet resigned, Kristersson was however elected as Member of the Riksdag (MP) again, this time for Södermanland County.[18] Following Reinfeldt's resignation as party leader, Anna Kinberg Batra appointed him as Shadow Finance Minister.[19]

In September 2018, incumbent PM Stefan Löfven was ousted.[21] Kristersson expressed hope of becoming the next PM.[25][21]

On 2 October 2018, he was designated by Speaker Andreas Norlén to form a new government.[26] He initially sought to form a government coalition involving the Alliance parties (Moderate Party, Centre Party, Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party) with support from the Social Democrats; on 9 October 2018 he announced that the Social Democrats had rejected all further talks on agreements and that he would now seek other ways to form a new government.[27] On 14 October 2018 he announced that he was not able to form a new government under current circumstances.[28]

On 5 November 2018, Speaker Andreas Norlén proposed Ulf Kristersson as Prime Minister following breakdowns in all other government negotiations.[29] On 14 November 2018, the Riksdag rejected Kristersson's bid to become Prime Minister by a vote of 195 to 154. It was the first time ever that a speaker's proposal for Prime Minister lost such a vote and the first time in 40 years that centre-right parties (Centre Party and Liberals) vetoed a centre-right candidate for Prime Minister.[30][31]