GARDERMOEN (VG) After only two years as party leader, Guri Melby encourages those with leadership ambitions to shout. She hopes she can prevent bitter personal disputes and intrigue.
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On Saturday, Guri Melby was re-elected leader of Venstre after two years in the position. On the same day, she now drops the call that the party should discuss who should take over from her.
– I would like to hear discussions about who can be the next leader of Venstre, he tells VG.
The background is that Melby wants to avoid such a one heartbreaking battle for leadership like when she was elected, and she hopes that open and free discussion in the party can prevent conflict and a tense atmosphere in which dirty laundry suddenly comes out in public.
– If someone stands up and talks about who should take the position of Liberal Party leader after me in the halls, here or if someone hears someone step on the podium in this meeting and is impressed, then I think it’s cool, he says.
Melby warns that with this she is not announcing a desire to step down, but believes the party should learn from the conflicts when Trine Skei Grande had to step down during the spring party in 2020.
– I think it’s important to dare to talk a little bit about the fact that there will come a day when I won’t be a leader and what we need to do to prepare for that day, that there are people who have both the desire and the ability to take control, he says.
– Do you think people in the Liberal Party with party leadership ambitions should report this loud and clear?
– For my part, people should be happy to say it out loud if they think that at some point they might consider becoming party leader. I myself hoped rather not to have to become party leader before me, but now I see it as a huge privilege.
Melby told VG last weekend that she stayed to separateand who wants to find love again.
– It won’t exactly be easier as long as I’m the party leader, he acknowledges.
New leadership mantra
Melby believes the next battle for leadership in the Liberal Party should be more like the business world, where several people apply for the same job and some get it. Not like in politics, where the struggle for office can lead to conflicts, different fields and contradictions.
– When you talk about who should have different roles in politics, it is often a matter of conflict where you fight for a position. In working life otherwise, there are many who apply for a job and one who gets it, says Melby and adds:
– It is not necessarily true that you are against each other, he says.
– When Trine Skei Grande stepped down as leader of Venstre in 2020, was the level of conflict high and it seemed like several people were standing up against each other?
– It got pretty inflamed, yes. We cannot pretend otherwise. But one of the reasons I wasn’t sure I had to run as a leader was that I think Abid and Sveinung were good people. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m their opponent, says Melby.
– But then I started to change it a bit and thought I’d put my name in the hat too, so the party could then choose between the three of us. Then I think it became a different way of thinking. In the end, they chose all three of us, but in three different roles, she says.
– When you are in the leadership trio: do you imagine that it is still possible for Abid and Sveinung to become party leaders?
– Absolutely, I hope they too see themselves as potential candidates for leadership.
I will not leave soon
Melby says he doesn’t necessarily think his career in national politics is over when he’s finished as party leader. He says he might be appropriate to move to another position and remain in the Storting again or he might become a minister.
– If it always happens that you have to leave politics after you are a leader, then perhaps you increase the risk a bit so that you always have to cling to the position you have.
Draw a parallel with KrF:
– Just look at when Knut Arild Hareide returned as a minister after his resignation as party leader. He did a great job and he had nothing to lose, right? I think he is exemplary.
Melby points out that Jonas Gahr Støre was a politician “long” before he became party leader, while Melby had only been in national politics for about a year before taking the top spot in the Liberal Party.
– What would you say to those who interpret this as a signal or a first hint that you are leaving the leadership position of the party?
– I think it’s a lot of fun to be a leader, so I’m not going to give up anytime soon. But it may be a good idea to hold these discussions when the departure is not so imminent, so as not to get so inflamed. So my hope is that we can avoid conflicts.
Different qualities at different times
Melby says the party needs different types of leaders with different qualities at different times.
– In one period the need for a political visionary may be greater, while in other periods a strong organizational builder may be absolutely necessary. And I’m not going to say that my leadership qualities are always right for the Liberal Party, he says.
PSSST: Could you imagine becoming the party leader in Venstre? Email journalist Martin Lægland at [email protected] or Eirik Røsvik at [email protected], to arrange a launch interview for the VG candidacy.
