Björn Jónsson

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Björn Jónsson
Prime Minister of Iceland
In office March 31, 1909 – March 14, 1911
Preceded by	Hannes Hafstein
Succeeded by	Kristján Jónsson
Born	October 8, 1846(1846-10-08)
Died	November 24, 1912 (aged 66) - (at age 58)
Political party	old Independence Party

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. Björn became minister of Iceland after Hannes Hafstein and his supporters suffered a bad outcome in the elections of 1908, where the voters opposed to the draft of new constitution. Björn was forced to resign after forcing the General Director of the National Bank, Tryggvi Gunnarsson, out of that post due to heavy criticism of their supporters. Björn and other opponents of the Draft won a landslide victory in the 1908 elections.

Björn was commonly known for the paper he edited, Ísafold, from 1874 to 1909, and was known as Björn í Ísafold or Ísafoldar Björn. Björn 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 in Alþingi.

Preceded by Hannes Hafstein

Prime Minister of Iceland 1909–1911

Succeeded by Kristján Jónsson

v • d • e Prime Ministers of Iceland Home rule, 1904-1918 and Kingdom of Iceland, 1918-1944: Hannes • Björn J. • Kristján • Hannes • Sigurður • Einar • Jón M. • Sigurður • Jón M. • Magnús (acting) • Jón Þ. • Tryggvi • Ásgeir • Hermann • Ólafur Thors • Björn Þ. Republic of Iceland, 1944-: Ólafur Thors • Stefán • Ólafur Thors • Steingrímur • Ólafur Thors • Hermann • Emil • Ólafur Thors • Bjarni • Jóhann • Ólafur J. • Geir Hallgrímsson • Ólafur J. • Benedikt • Gunnar • Steingrímur • Þorsteinn • Steingrímur • Davíð • Halldór • Geir Haarde

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