“Don’t do anything rash,” was the message from the veteran to his Frp friends the day Siv Jensen stepped down. Now he wants to swap his consultancy job for a seat in the Storting.
<li aria-label="facebook" class="narrow-
The last time Tor Mikkel Wara ran for the Storting, the Berlin Wall was still up and the Soviet Union was the great threat. That was in 1989.
Now the world is completely different, but one thing appears to remain the same: 1989 was a jubilee election for the Progress Party. 2025 could also be, at least if we look at the polls right now.
But a lot has happened to Tor Mikkel Wara as well. He has been out of politics, except for a term as Minister of Justice that lasted under a year and ended due to one of the most spectacular cases in Norwegian political history.
Wara stepped down back in 2019 when his then-partner, Laila Bertheussen, was charged with threatening the family home. She was later convicted for this and has now completed her sentence.
Tor Mikkel Wara is now seeking public trust in the Storting and is at the top of the list for Oslo Frp in the election next autumn. However, he still does not want to disclose his client list from his old job.
This week he is a guest on the podcast “Stop the World” with political editor in E24 Torbjørn Røe Isaksen.
– Ehh, yes. I don’t know how much of “the average person” I was last time. At that point, I was actually a young upstart, if I may use that expression.
– Understands the issues
Wara was 23 years old when he was elected to the Storting for his first and so far only term. In the subsequent period, he worked as a PR consultant, most recently in the much-discussed agency First House, where he has now resigned.
– It’s simply that it’s not my client lists. It’s agreements made between, in this case, First House and the clients, says Wara, who believes such contracts are very common in the private sector.
A similar issue arose when the Prime Minister got a new state secretary back in 2022. Kristoffer Thoner initially refused to disclose his clients in his previous job at the consulting firm McKinsey, but eventually had to give in.
Wara says he understands why the question about his client lists is asked.
– I understand the issue. And that is why I have chosen to end my relationship with First House more than a year before I come to the Storting. It is to create a certain distance.
– Under these questions about seeing that client list, there is almost a sort of conspiracy theory that I am actually still working for First House or First House clients, and not for Oslo Frp. But the fact is that when you change jobs, you change jobs. You are loyal to the new employer, not the old one.
Read on E24+
Could be the dog that caught the car
<img class="image-asset hyperion-css-u06ts1" data-test-tag="image-asset" srcset="https://akamai.vgc.no/v2/images/22b52cee-213f-4dc8-a41e-2c3e2afd056a?fit=crop&format=auto&h=769&w=1024&s=08084d4889acc6de344844672c9fde7d7ef426db 1024w,https://akamai.vgc.no/v2/images/22b52cee-213f-4dc8-a41e-2c3e2afd056a?fit=crop&format=auto&h=751&w=1000&s=8e447d1a4061b53539a03ac862d22a718ceb3d08 1000w,https://akamai.vgc.no/v2/images/22b52cee-213f-4dc8-a41e-2c3e2afd056a?fit=crop&format=auto&h=676&w=900&s=1b6ea229b5150afc4a9dec52969442c226ebb07d 900w,https://akamai.vgc.no/v2/images/22b52cee-213f-4dc8-a41e-2c3e2afd056a?fit=crop&format=auto&h=601&w=800&s=7b61cd8caf320c1b9bfde51c24d583beaba4081a 800w,https://akamai.vgc.no/v2/images/22b52cee-213f-4dc8-a41e-2c3e2afd056a?fit=crop&format=auto&h=526&w=700&s=9d2c3f1e798e764c1111d95174aaf78495a6531f 700w,https://akamai.vgc.no/v2/images/22b52cee-213f-4dc8-a41e-2c3e2afd056a?fit=crop&format=auto&h=451&w
– Had some “thankless jobs”
Many in the party were skeptical when Siv Jensen stepped down and the leadership was taken over by the controversial politician from Møre and Romsdal, Sylvi Listhaug. Some feared that the party would have too little liberalism and too much nationalism and conservatism.
– Sylvi Listhaug has had some “thankless jobs” in Frp, such as being the spokesperson for immigration policy. It is a vulnerable role, and it was the job she got in the government first (Listhaug was initially Minister of Agriculture, but then became Minister of Justice, editor’s note).
– No, I would say she has gotten a new job. That’s the difference. She had a very specific task in the party previously under Siv Jensen, and now she has a new job. At the same time, Frp has changed, he notes, pointing out that the party has been in government.
– You have a more self-aware Frp regarding what we want and how we will achieve those results, where we may have fumbled a bit earlier and were
– To be completely honest: The day Siv stepped down, I made a few phone calls to some of my friends in the Frp, and said: This is going to be fine. This is going to be fine. Don’t do anything rash. Sylvi will be a good leader, let her have the chance. That was my honest and sincere opinion, and I was quite sure that she would succeed, and she did.
Tax cuts
Wara believes the Progress Party’s success in the polls is due to several reasons:
– One is that Frp, after being in government for a few years, is in a sense a much more pragmatic party.
– I also think you have a much more self-aware Frp. That is, much more secure about what it wants, what it can achieve, and what it cannot achieve.
Wara still believes that the Frp’s political project resembles what it was in the 80s.
– It is still about rolling back the state where we can do so and achieving lower taxes.
He particularly mentions wealth tax and income tax on regular income.
Torbjørn Røe Isaksen and Tor Mikkel Wara were ministers at the same time.
It seems like the text discusses current events related to Tor Mikkel Wara, a Norwegian politician, and his recent return to the political scene after stepping down in 2019. Wara’s resignation was linked to a scandal involving his partner, Laila Bertheussen, who was convicted of threatening their family home.
Wara is now attempting to regain public trust as he heads the Oslo Frp party list for the upcoming election. Despite his return, he is hesitant to disclose his client list from his time as a PR consultant at First House, a point of contention among political observers. He explains that client confidentiality is typical in the private sector, and he has distanced himself from his previous role to avoid any conflicts of interest.
The text also touches on the broader context of his party’s leadership transition, specifically the skepticism surrounding Sylvi Listhaug’s leadership and the changes within the party’s ideology. Wara acknowledges the challenges faced by Listhaug, particularly in relation to immigration policy, signaling a shift in the party’s direction since her appointment.
the article highlights Wara’s efforts to navigate the complexities of political trust and accountability, alongside the evolving dynamics within the Progress Party (Frp) of Norway.