ON VISIT TO TRØNDER: Jan Christian Vestre (right) in conversation with Trond Giske at the Aps county annual meeting in March. Ingvild Kjerkol (front) was re-elected as leader of the county team. Photo: Fredrik Solstad / VG
If the Labor deputy leader takes over Ingvild Kjerkol’s job, it could open the way for a northern Norwegian minister of industry: Cecilie Myrseth.
Friday 12 April at 15:00
Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) resigned on Friday morning because she was caught cheating on her master’s degree from Nord University.
Now Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) has to look for a new minister.
One of the hottest names for this position is Minister of Industry and Labor deputy leader Jan Christian Vestre (Ap).
Vestre was appointed as minister of industry as part of the original team in Jonas Gahr Støre’s government in October 2021. The furniture heir and factory owner is a survivor of the Utøya terror in 2011. He became deputy leader of Ap in May 2023.
Vestre himself wanted to remain in his job as minister of industry when Støre made his big change in the government apparatus in autumn 2023, according to VG’s information.
Cecilie Myrseth
Minister of Fisheries
According to VG’s information, fisheries minister Cecilie Myrseth (Ap) is a current replacement for Vestre if he is appointed as health minister. Vestre will not rule out taking a new job in an interview with TV 2:
– You are pointed to as a possible heir. Do you want to become Minister of Health?
– I have no comment on that. I am Minister of Business and Industry and I am very happy for that opportunity and I love my job, says Vestre to the TV channel.
Støre was himself appointed as Minister of Health by then Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (Ap) in 2012. Støre became party leader in 2014.
TRØNDERTOPP: Jan Christian Vestre with state secretary Tore O. Sandvik in the Ministry of Industry. Photo: Tore Kristiansen / VG
At the same time, there is a clear demand from Trøndelag that they must be represented in the government going forward.
The county team is by far the biggest in Aps. After Kjerkol’s exit, only Karianne Tung is left in government with a background from the county.
It is too little, says deputy chairman Amund Hellesø Aftenposten. To VG, he elaborates:
– We expect that Støre will now look through his Trønder names and find a new minister from Trøndelag, says Hellesø to VG.
– As Minister of Health?
– In the same way that I have respect for the prime minister deciding who is in government, I have respect for him deciding the cabal. He has to put together the best team. Then I expect there to be two from Trøndelag in the first eleven, says Hellesø with a football metaphor.
– Is it a requirement?
– It is an expectation.
Tore O. Sandvik
State secretary from Ap and Trøndelag top
When asked by VG about who might be relevant, he singled out former county mayor Tore O. Sandvik (Ap). He is currently state secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries under Vestre.
– Yes, we have a man called Tore O. Sandvik. He has twenty years’ experience as county mayor, he has been state secretary before and is now. He has also been youth secretary in LO. He has shown himself to be a very forward-leaning man and, not least, someone with great implementation power from county politics, says Hellesø.
LONE TRØNDER STATE COUNCIL: Karianne Tung (right) is Trøndelag’s only councilor after Kjerkol’s resignation. Here with Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen. Photo: Tore Kristiansen / VG
A problem will then be the gender balance, which is important for Støre and the Labor Party. Today, Ap has six men and six women in government. If Kjerkol leaves the government and Sandvik comes in – the result will be seven men and five women.
– I have received signals that he is doing a good job in the ministry he is in now. If Vestre were to become health minister, perhaps Jonas would not have to go so far to find a new industry minister, says Hellesø.