In the days after Sweden’s new security adviser, Tobias Thyberg, stepped down over “sensitive” pictures from an old account on the Grindr dating app, people in Sweden are starting to ask whether it was right for him to go, writes The Local’s Nordic Editor Richard Orange.
In the days after Sweden’s new security adviser, Tobias Thyberg, stepped down over “sensitive” pictures from an old account on the Grindr dating app, people in Sweden are starting to ask whether it was right for him to go, writes The Local’s Nordic Editor Richard Orange.
In the days after Sweden’s new security adviser, Tobias Thyberg, stepped down over “sensitive” pictures from an old account on the Grindr dating app, people in Sweden are starting to ask whether it was right for him to go, writes The Local’s Nordic Editor Richard Orange.
Just a few hours after Thyberg was named as the government’s new national security adviser, he turned down the position – after the Dagens Nyheter (DN) asked questions about a picture they had found of Thyberg, which they described as being of a “sensitive” nature.
“These are old pictures from an account I previously had on the dating site Grindr. I should have informed [the government] about this but I didn’t. I have therefore said I do not intend to take up the position as national security adviser,” Thyberg told DN in a comment.
The pictures, it later transpired, had been sent by an anonymous and apparently unidentifiable source both to the senior political aide responsible for Thyberg’s recruitment, and also to several different newspapers.
That Thyberg was toppled so soon after the high-profile resignation of Henrik Landerholm, his predecessor as national security adviser, is obviously a blow to the government.
It was particularly a blow to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who had created the post of national security adviser and then ignored the objections of others, including several people from within his own Moderate Party, when Landerholm, an old school friend, got the job.
“Failing twice over such a key position is extremely serious,” the Social Democrats’ defence spokesperson Peter Hultqvist said. “This creates an image of incompetence in Sweden.”
“Once again, Ulf Kristersson has pulled off the extraordinary feat of ‒ when recruiting a security coordinator ‒ putting Sweden’s security at risk rather than strengthening it,” said Daniel Helldén, spokesperson for the Green Party.
Even Kristersson himself underlined the seriousness of what had happened, calling it a “system failure” that the possible existence of such photos had not come up in security checks.
Other politicians, however, have come out in support of Thyberg.
In a joint article in QX, Sweden’s gay news site, three politicians argued that Kristersson had acted out of “moral panic”.
All he had done was send a picture, “with consent”, to another adult on a dating app, an act, they continued, that is “normal for hundreds of thousands of Swedes”.
“What message does this send to LGBTI people?” asked Victor Harju, a Social Democrat on Stockholm’s regional council, Carl-Otto Engberg, a Liberal party member on Huddinge council, and Jesper Svensson, a Stockholm Liberal. “That they need to choose: a top job in the future or an account on Grindr. Is everyone who has ever taken a sexual photo now barred from having a top job?”
Spreading naked pictures of someone with the intention of harming them is a crime in Sweden which can lead to up to two years in prison, they note. Rather than committing some sort of misstep, Thyberg is in fact a victim.
The comedian Jonas Gardell, who has long acted as an unofficial representative of gay people in Sweden, explained that among gay men sending such pictures is an everyday event.
“You call it a ‘dick pic’. We call it a business card. And I know, women often think it’s disgusting, but we gays generally think it’s the best thing ever,” he said.
The argument, of course, is that by not disclosing the existence of such photos during his security assessment, Thyberg left himself open to blackmail by foreign powers. The Moderate Party municipal councillor Hanif Bali argued, however, that the best way to turn this threat into a reality was to react in the way the government did last week.
“Ulf Kristersson’s move to sack Thyberg has made us more vulnerable,” he argued on Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT. “The likelihood that everyone with a security clearance has told Säpo [Sweden’s security police] about every picture they’ve ever sent anyone over the last ten years is zero. By creating this moral panic, that people can suddenly lose a job seven to eight years later, creates a massive opportunity for blackmail.”
The blackmail argument reminded Gardell of the situation decades ago, where gay people were barred from positions in the military “because they were too easy to blackmail”.
“Hello! This is not the 1950s. Because Thyberg is openly homosexual there’s nothing to blackmail him about,” he retorted. “Give the bloke back his job immediately. And ask him to please send the pics to me!”
What else has been going on in politics?
Pourmokhtari ahead in race to lead Liberals
Several new Liberal Party districts said over the weekend that they were backing Sweden’s climate minister, Romina Pourmokhtari, as the party’s next leader.
The districts of Kronoberg and Jämtland gave Pourmokhtari their backing, adding to the backing she has already received from Skaraborg, the party’s youth group LUF, and the Liberal Students.
According to the Expressen newspaper, the party’s Kalmar district is also considering backing Pourmokhtari.
Lotta Edholm, Sweden’s schools minister, has so far received one nomination, from the party’s Västmanland district.
The nomination process began formally on Monday, May 12th, and will end on June 24th when the party leader will be voted through in a specially called party congress.
Government plans to limit union funding for Social Democrats
A government committee has proposed a new law which will give trade union members the right to block their union dues from being used to fund political parties, even though a majority of the committee’s members, including the non-political chair, Mats Melin, were opposed.
The committee was required to put forward a proposal under the instructions given to it by the government. The rule is clearly aimed at reducing the amount of funding the Social Democrats can receive from unions.
“It can be questioned whether such a regulation would be compatible with freedom of association,” Melin explained in a press conference of his opposition.
The committee members from Sweden’s three government parties, and from the far-right Sweden Democrats all supported the new restrictions on union funding, while the other parties all opposed the new law.
The inquiry on party funding also proposed a complete ban on anonymous donations, a ban on foreign donations, a requirement that parties publicly account for campaign spending, and the introduction of a new lobbying register.
The lobbying register would require companies, organisations and others who want to influence political proposals that are under preparation to report what contacts they have with the Government Offices and with MPs.
The Moderates and the Christian Democrats are against the register while the Green Party thinks it should cover all attempts to influence policy, even if there is no proposal for a new law under development.
Politics in Sweden is The Local’s weekly analysis, guide or look ahead to what’s coming up in Swedish politics. Update your newsletter settings to receive it directly to your inbox.
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