Do we like Ulf Kristersson?
Our score: 5 out of 10. A decent record on LGBTQ+ rights sits next to a deal with the far right and climate cuts, plus unproven ethics questions.
Ulf Kristersson led the Moderate Party into government in 2022 at the head of a three-party coalition. It ruled with Sweden Democrat votes in parliament but gave that party no cabinet seats. That arrangement defined his whole term, and it's why he's on a list like this one.
The scandals were mostly about his household rather than the law. Aftonbladet reported that a foundation run by his wife, Birgitta Ed, recruited volunteers with the promise of a good network and meetings at the PM's residence. The Church of Sweden then opened an ethics investigation into her. Kristersson rejected the foundation claims as false and said the foundation has nothing to do with him. A law professor called the cases corruption, though he also said nothing illegal had been shown, and no legal consequences have followed.
On the harm test, the record cuts both ways. His government cut petrol taxes and loosened low-carbon fuel blending rules, and rejected a commission's plan to phase out fossil fuels. The government says the phase-out must be gradual to protect Swedish business, but climate groups marched through Stockholm in August to say it isn't enough.
The big mark against him is the company he chose. In 2018 he promised a Holocaust survivor his party would never work with the Sweden Democrats. In 2026 he said he would bring them into cabinet if the right won. Critics say that cements the far right's anti-immigration agenda in the centre of Swedish politics. He launched his manifesto saying “fundamental things that just weren't working in Sweden”.
Voters had the last word. The right-wing bloc lost by one seat, 173 to 176, the Sweden Democrats dropped 11 seats, and he said he would resign. Where you land on him depends on whether you read the Pride flags or the cabinet pledge as the real Kristersson. Past that, the record we could verify is thin on cruelty and on courage.