- Björn Jónsson
Infobox Prime Minister
name=Björn Jónsson
order=Prime Minister of Iceland
term_start =March 31 1909
term_end =March 14 1911
predecessor3 =Hannes Hafstein
successor3 =Kristján Jónsson
birth_date =birth date|1846|10|8|mf=y
death_date =death date and age|1912|11|24|1846|10|8|mf=y - (at age 58)
party=old Independence Party |Björn Jónsson (
October 8 1846 –November 24 1912 ) was Prime Minister ofIceland from31 March 1909 to14 March 1911 . He was the father ofSveinn Björnsson , the only governor and first president of Iceland. Björn became minister of Iceland afterHannes 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.
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