Norway appointed a new defence minister on Tuesday after the previous incumbent resigned in response to the fallout from his relationship with a much younger woman.
Bjørn Arild Gram, formerly local authorities minister, is to take over after the resignation of Odd Roger Enoksen, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced.
Norway’s government has announced that defence minister Odd Roger Enoksen was resigning following revelations that he had a years-long affair with a much younger woman.
“It is a necessary decision, after what has surfaced in this matter,’’ Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told a news conference where he confirmed that he had accepted Mr Enoksen’s resignation.
“I have made several bad choices and judgements, and will give an unreserved apology for the fact that my actions have made life more difficult for others,’’ Mr Enoksen, 67, told news agency NTB earlier today.
Mr Enoksen started the affair in 2005 when his partner was still an 18-year-old secondary school student, according to the daily newspaper VG.
Her class went on a school trip to Norway’s parliament in the capital Oslo and met the Centre Party politician, who was 50 at the time.
After the school trip, she and Mr Enoksen started what would become a very close and sexual relationship, VG wrote.
The woman, now in her 30s, detailed their relationship to the newspaper, saying she felt starstruck by Mr Enoksen due to her interest in politics and that he used his power and position to get what he wanted.
Sigbjørn Gjelsvik, a member of the Norwegian parliament, would take Gram’s position.
Gram, Enoksen and Gjelsvik were all members of the agrarian Centre Party, the junior partner in the government, headed by Støre’s Labour Party.
Enoksen, who was appointed defence minister in October last year, announced his resignation on Saturday after confirming a report in the Verdens Gang newspaper and acknowledging the relationship with the younger woman some years ago.
