Labour Party (Norway) politicians

Dag Lyseid (12 February 1954 – 2 January 2013) was a Norwegian footballer and politician for the Labour Party.
He played as a defender for SFK Lyn between 1973 and 1982, the first and sixth season in the First Division (highest tier). He made his debut against Frigg in May 1973, and played 117 league games and 15 cup games for Lyn, never scoring a goal. He grew up at Ullevål, and studied in Oslo and Trondheim.He settled in Meråker, where he was a sheep farmer at Stordalen and eventually entered the civil service. From 1992 to 1994 he served as director of health and social services in Meråker municipality. He was later personnel director and faculty director at the University of Trondheim and NTNU, later in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration in the Stjørdal district.As a politician he was elected to Meråker municipal council in 1995, serving as deputy mayor from 1999 to 2008. He then went on a hiatus to concentrate on his Labour and Welfare Administration job. In the 2011 Norwegian local elections he made a comeback and was elected to Nord-Trøndelag county council. He died in January 2013.

Leif Andreas Larsen (2 January 1898 – 29 April 1978) was a Norwegian telegrapher and politician for the Labour Party.
He was born in Kristiania, and moved to Bærum in 1926. He had an education as a telegrapher, and also took the cand.jur. degree in 1924. He chaired of the Labour Party chapter in Bærum from 1930 to 1935, and was elected to serve in Bærum municipal council in 1932. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany he was imprisoned in Bredtveit concentration camp from 30 March 1943, then in Berg concentration camp from 26 July 1944 to 26 March 1945.In May 1945, when Norway was liberated from the five-year-long German occupation, Larsen became deputy mayor of Bærum. After the 1945 Norwegian local elections he became mayor. He was the first mayor of Bærum to represent the Labour Party. He left the municipal council in 1951, but returned for the years 1956 to 1963, when he was again deputy mayor. From 1962 to 1968 he was the director of Telegrafverket, which would change its name to Televerket in 1969 and Telenor in 1995.Larsen was decorated as a Commander of the Order of St. Olav. A road in Sandvika, Leif Larsens vei, has been named after him.

Odd Højdahl (5 January 1921 – 23 February 1994) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the Labour Party.
He was born in Oslo.
In 1971–1972 he was the Minister of Social Affairs in the first cabinet Bratteli. As an elected politician he served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo during the term 1961–1965. On the local level he was a member of Oslo city council from 1953 to 1957.
Having studied law from 1941 to 1943, after World War II he worked one year as a police officer and then as a civil servant. He then became a professional trade unionist, holding positions in trade unions within the national trade union center Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions from 1951. He later rose in the hierarchy of the Confederation to serve as secretary from 1960 to 1969 and then vice chairman from 1969 to 1977. From 1977 to 1988 he directed the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority.
He chaired the Norwegian People's Aid from 1975 to 1979. He was a board member of Strukturfinans, Tiden Norsk Forlag, Arbeiderbladet and Den norske Creditbank.

Elsa Rastad Bråten (1 February 1918 – 21 December 1999) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.
She was born in Oslo as a daughter of typographer and politician Ingvald Rastad and Sigrid Hilton.
During the first cabinet Bratteli from 1971 to 1972, Bråten was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and the Police. She had served as political secretary (today known as political advisor) in the Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs from 1959 to 1965.
She served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo during the terms 1973–1977. From 1973 to 1976 she met as a regular representative, replacing Knut Frydenlund who was appointed to the second cabinet Bratteli. On the local level she was a member of Oslo city council from 1955 to 1963.
Bråten did not have a higher education. She worked as a journalist in Arbeiderbladet in 1945-1949 and 1950–1951, editor-in-chief of Arbeiderkvinnen from 1953 to 1959, and a consultant.

Aase Ingerid Nathalie Bjerkholt (16 January 1915 – 17 August 2012) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She was born in Oslo.
She was consultative councillor of state for family and consumer affairs during the third cabinet Gerhardsen in 1955–1956, and became the first Minister of Family and Consumer Affairs in 1956. She held the post until 1965, except for one month in 1963 during the cabinet Lyng. From January to February 1963 she was also caretaking Minister of Social Affairs.
She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1958, and was re-elected on three occasions. On the local level she was a member of Oslo city council from 1945 to 1947.

Arne Strand (17 March 1944 – 10 May 2023) was a Norwegian journalist and politician for the Labour Party. He was the political editor in the newspaper Dagsavisen until his death.
Strand graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.mag. degree in 1968. He worked as a journalist in Vårt Land from 1964 to 1966, in Arbeiderbladet from 1966 to 1976, and in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation from 1976 to 1987. Between 1987 and 1989 he was a State Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, as a part of Gro Harlem Brundtland's second cabinet.Having been political editor and news editor in his later years with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, in 1990 he was hired as political editor in Arbeiderbladet, which in 1997 changed its name to Dagsavisen. He was acting editor-in-chief from 2004 to 2005 and from 2009. From 1999 to 2006 he chaired the Norwegian branch of the International Press Institute.Strand was the adoptive father of the television host Christian Strand.Strand died on 10 May 2023, at the age of 79. He had been ill with cancer for 17 years prior to his death.

Grethe G. Fossum (1 November 1945 – 28 November 2019) was a Norwegian politician. She served one term in the Storting from Hedmark from 1997 to 2001. She was also a deputy representative from 1989 to 1997 and 2001 to 2005. Fossum was a member of the Labour Party.She was born in Oslo to Kåre Gulbrandsen and Iris Pettersen. She served as a teacher and school administrator in Grue, Norway before becoming active in Labor Party politics. She was a member of the council and deputy mayor of the town from 1987 to 1991.She was first elected as a deputy representative in 1989 and re-elected in 1993. In her time as a deputy, she substitute for Kjell Borgen and Sigbjørn Johnsen during their terms and cabinet ministers. In the 1997 Norwegian parliamentary election, she was elected to a seat in her own right. She served on the Family, Culture and Administration committee and the Finance Committee.In the 2001 election, Labour saw its share of seats drop from the prior election and Fossum did not hold her seat, but was again elected as a deputy. She substituted for Sylvia Brustad during the latter's term as a minister.Fossum died on 28 November 2019 at the age of 74.

Rune Bjerke (born 17 June 1960) is a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Labour Party.
Rune is son of Juul Bjerke and brother of Siri Bjerke. Bjerke studied economics at the University of Oslo, and has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University.
From 1992 to 1995 he was city commissioner (byråd) of finance in the city cabinet of Oslo. He has previously been advisor in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, director in Scancem International and chief executive officer in Hafslund. From 2007 to 2019 he was chief executive officer of DNB.
He is the chairman of the board of Doorstep, and of both the Norwegian Financial Services Association and Finance Norway.Bjerke is married to the Labour party politician Libe Rieber-Mohn.

Rune Egil Kristiansen (born 30 October 1948) was a Norwegian typographer, trade unionist and politician for the Labour Party.
He was born in Oslo as a son of trade unionist Willard Kristiansen (1927–1972) and Kirsten, née Storøy (1926–1989). He finished vocational school in 1966, undertook a three-year apprenticeship in typography and worked as a typographer in Arbeiderbladet from 1969 to 1979 and Verdens Gang from 1979 to 1980. In 1980 he became a national board member of the Norwegian Graphical Union, and in 1984 he became leader of the Norwegian Graphical Union and Oslo Graphical Union. From 1987 he was also a supervisory council member in the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, and from 1988 he was a board member of Oslo faglige samorg. He rescinded all positions in 1989 to become an elected politician.Kristensen was elected as a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Oslo during the terms 1989–1993 and 1993–1997. However, he met as a regular representative during seven of the eight years, as a stand-in for Gro Harlem Brundtland who served as Prime Minister; later for Thorbjørn Berntsen who took part in Jagland's Cabinet. In the 1997 Norwegian parliamentary election Kristiansen was finally elected as a full member, and served through 2001.

Brit Kirsti Kolle Grøndahl (born 1 September 1943) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party, former County Governor of Buskerud. She was Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1986 to 1988 and Minister of International Development from 1988 to 1989.
From 11 October 1993 to 30 September 2001, she was the first female President of the Storting, and she has been County Governor of Buskerud since 1999.