Jan Björklund

Jan Arne Björklund (born 18 April 1962) is a Swedish Liberal politician. He was a member of the Riksdag from 2006 to 2019, representing Stockholm County, and served as leader of the Liberals from 2007 to 2019. Björklund served as minister for education from 2007 to 2014, and as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden from 2010 to 2014.

He served as Ambassador of Sweden to Italy from 2020 to 2025 and has served as Marshal of the Realm since 1 January 2026.

Early life Björklund was born in Skene (today a part of Mark Municipality), Älvsborg County (today Västra Götaland County), Sweden. His father, Arne, worked in the textile industry; his mother, Ragna, came to Sweden from Norway as a war refugee in 1944. He was elected new party leader on 7 September 2007. At the same time, he also took over Leijonborg's positions as head of the Ministry of Education and Research, and as minister for education. The change in his title as minister was merely formal, as his areas of responsibility were still those that he had as minister for schools.

Following the 2010 Swedish general election, in which the Liberal People's Party became the second-largest party in the government coalition, Björklund replaced Maud Olofsson as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden on 5 October 2010.

Political views Björklund is often seen as a representative of the more right-wing, hard-edged faction of the Liberal Party.

In January 2009, Björklund criticised the downsizing in recent years of the Swedish Armed Forces. During an interview on an SVT news program, he stated: "After the last year's development in Russia, and the war in Georgia, Sweden must be able to mobilize more soldiers than we can today."

In 2019, Björklund got his wish to abolish the , a top tax rate of 5% points for incomes above €6,000 a month, in turn for supporting Stefan Löfven as prime minister.

Personal life

Björklund married Anette Brifalk in 1992, with whom he has two adopted children, Gustav and Jesper. He lives with his family in Bromma, Stockholm.