Björn Jónsson

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Björn Jónsson (October 8, 1846 - November 24, 1912) was Prime Minister of Iceland from 31 March 1909 to 14 March 1911. He was the father of Sveinn Björnsson, the only governor and first president of Iceland. Jónsson became minister of Iceland after Mr. Hannes Hafstein and his supporters suffered a bad outcome in the elections of 1908, where the voters opposed to the draft of new constitution. Jónsson was forced to resign after forcing the General Director of the National Bank, Mr. Tryggvi Gunnarsson, out of that post due to heavy criticism of their supporters. Jónsson and other opponents of the Draft won a landslide victory in the 1908 elections.

Mr. Jónsson was commonly known for the paper he edited, Ísafold, from 1874 to 1909, and was known as Björn í Ísafold or Ísafoldar Björn. Mr. Offended the Danish Authorities in 1909 by appointing a Councillor of Commerce to work on business negotiations for Iceland, when he appointed his supporter Bjarni Jónsson frá Vogi, to that post. The Danish Authorities stated that appointing such a councillor was not in harmony with the common foreign policy of Denmark and Iceland.

Björn got alcohol prohibition accepted on Alþingi.

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