Anna Kinberg Batra

Anna Kinberg Batra
Leader of the Moderate Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 January 2015
Deputy	Peter Danielsson
Party secretary	Tomas Tobé
Preceded by	Fredrik Reinfeldt
Group Leader of the Moderate Party in the Swedish Riksdag
In office 4 October 2010 – 14 January 2015
Leader	Fredrik Reinfeldt
Preceded by	Lars Lindblad
Succeeded by	Jessica Polfjärd
Member of the Swedish Riksdag for Stockholm Municipality
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 October 2006
Personal details
Born	14 April 1970 Skärholmen, Sweden
Political party	Moderate Party
Spouse(s)	David Batra
Children	1
Alma mater	Stockholm University Stockholm School of Economics

Anna Maria Kinberg Batra (Swedish pronunciation: [²an.na ²ɕɪn.bærj ˈbɑːtra]; née Kinberg, born 14 April 1970) is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. She has been leader of the Moderate Party since January 2015.

She has been a Member of the Swedish Riksdag for Stockholm Municipality since 2006.^[1] She was chairman of the Committee on European Union Affairs from 2007 to 2010 and chairman of the Committee on Finance from 2010 to 2014.^[2]

On 9 December 2014, the Moderate Party's nomination committee nominated Anna Kinberg Batra to succeed Fredrik Reinfeldt as party leader.^[3] She was elected to the position at the party congress on 10 January 2015.

Early life

Anna Kinberg was born in Skärholmen.^[4] In 1974 Kinberg and her family moved to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, as her father worked for Merrill Lynch's Amsterdam office.^[5][6] Kinberg Batra speaks fluent Dutch after her years in the country.^[5] They moved back to Sweden in 1980, settling in Djursholm where Kinberg Batra spent the rest of upbringing.^[6] She is a graduate from the Stockholm School of Economics. She has also studied foreign languages and political science at Stockholm University. She was active in student politics as chairman of the Stockholm University Student Union, and as the first female chairman of the Moderate Youth League in Stockholm County.^[7]

Political career

Anna Kinberg Batra speaks before a crowd at Almedalsveckan in Visby, July 2015.

She has also been an elected member of the Stockholm County Council and the municipal council in Nacka Municipality.^[8] Prior to the 2006 general election she worked at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, and prior to that she worked in different companies as a public relations consultant. She has authored the book Indien – från stackare till stormakt ("India – From Wretch to Great Power", Timbro, 2005).^[9]

Kinberg became known to the general public when she stated that "people from Stockholm are more intelligent than people from rural areas" in her election campaign 1998.^[10] In 2014, she apologized for this statement and said that "it is still the stupidest thing I've said publicly".^[11]

She faced criticism from voters and from within the Moderate Party after the December agreement, which was considered a victory for Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's centre-left minority government coalition.

On 9 October 2015, following the Christian Democrats departure from the agreement, Kinberg Batra announced that the December agreement was now dissolved. However, she allowed the minority government to continue govern.

Personal life

She is married to comedian David Batra with whom she has one daughter.^[12][13] She lives with her family in Nacka.^[14]

References

1. "Tobias Billström utsedd till vice talmanskandidat och Anna Kinberg Batra omvald som gruppledare". Moderat.se. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
2. "Anna Kinberg Batra tar inte längre några risker". DN.SE. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
3. Kinberg Batra nominated as Reinfeldt's successor Sveriges Radio Retrieved 9 December 2014.
4. "Uppväxt nyliberal kan få leda M - Lokalt - Skånskan.se". Skånskan. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
5. "Ny seriös image lyfte karriären för Batra". Helsingborgs Dagblad - hd.se. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
6. "Anna Kinberg Batra tar inte längre några risker". DN.SE. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
7. "Kinberg Batra hetaste kandidaten att ta över". Expressen. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
8. Nacka Värmdö Posten. "Kinberg Batra spås bli M-ledare". nvp.se. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
9. "Indien - från stackare till stormakt". Bokus.com. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
10. "Aftonbladet nyheter: Stockholmare vs lantisar". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
11. "Anna Kinberg Batra beredd att leda M". Göteborgs Posten. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
12. Lena [email protected]. "Men interna röster varnar för att M med Anna Kinberg Batra bara får 15 procent - SvD". SvD.se. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
13. "Hon gör aldrig om sin blunder". DN.SE. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
14. "Anna Kinberg Batra - vem är hon?". svt.se. Retrieved 23 November 2014.

External links

• Riksdagen: Anna Kinberg Batra (m)