Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.03.2010, Blaðsíða 23

In the summer of 2000 I met then
leader of the British Conservative Party
William Hague. The party was doing
very badly in the polls. I mentioned
to Mr. Hague that in Iceland we had a
conservative politician who was a born
winner, had never lost an election, was
idolised by a large percentage of the
population—a man who could give the
British Conservatives a piece of advice
or two.
The man was of course Davíð Odds-
son. By then he had been prime minis-
ter of Iceland for nine years, before that
he was a popular mayor of Reykjavík
for a decade. Iceland was experiencing
prosperity; Oddsson was even being
mentioned as the greatest politician of
the 20th century by some.
As I mentioned to William Hague,
Oddsson was a man who could have
made it to the political top of any coun-
try—extremely intelligent, witty, with
a way of coining catchy phrases, as I
pointed out. He also had an artistic
temperament, having been a radio
comic in his younger days, as well as a
playwright, part time actor and writer
of short stories. He was also very cun-
ning, even ruthless, always managing
to outsmart his enemies.
A sarcastic pope
Oddsson was never your run of the mill
party man—he was far too unconven-
tional for that—even if his first loyalty
was always to the Independence party
and its traditions. In parliament he
might thrash his opponents with his
sarcasm, whereas at party conventions
he put on the guise of a pope, as if these
were almost holy gatherings.
Thus Oddsson was always quite
fascinating, and even to this day he re-
mains somewhat of a mystery. A real
biography of the man could be quite a
read.
In 2002, things started to go sour.
Maybe Oddsson should have quit by
then. Had he left the stage, he would
have left a shining legacy for the his-
tory books. But this was not in his
character. Never very principled about
his methods, it became evident that he
was running things with a tight group
of his cronies, some of them old school
mates, others partners from his bridge
table, many of whom became very ad-
ept at badmouthing his adversaries and
spreading gossip. Oddsson became
increasingly capricious and vindictive.
His charm also started waning; the
jokes became rather lame, appealing
only to the party faithful.
At this stage Oddsson no longer tol-
erated any opposition. The atmosphere
within his sizable parliamentary party
has been described by insiders as “suf-
focating.” Party meetings became
hallelujah-conventions where no criti-
cism of the leader and his policies was
tolerated. Icelandic society in that pe-
riod has been compared to an alcoholic
household, where you never know what
mood the pater familias might be in at
any given moment, so everybody has to
tiptoe around him.
His popularity was also dwindling.
Almost single-handedly Oddsson de-
cided to declare Iceland's support for
the invasion of Iraq, putting Iceland
on the list of the "coalition of the will-
ing," possibly as a way of appeasing
the US government intent on closing
its military base in Keflavík. Oddsson
even went to the White House and sang
a birthday song for George W. Bush.
However, the Americans left soon after.
There are still demands that Iceland’s
support for the invasion be researched
by the parliament.
The culmination of this transfor-
mation was his mission against some
of the newly wealthy business Vikings,
notably Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson of
Baugur and his father, retail magnate
Jóhannes Jónsson of the Bónus chain
stores. Oddsson was in some ways pre-
scient about the dangers posed by these
new financiers. But, true to his nature,
he took this to a personal level, once re-
ferring to Jón Ásgeir as a "hooligan".
Not a question of principles
Oddsson put enormous effort into
trying to shut down the Jón Ásgeir's
empire of newspapers, radio and tele-
vision stations—later thwarted by the
Icelandic president’s refusal to sign
the bill—while at the same time priva-
tising the main banks into the hands
of other groups of business Vikings,
namely father and son team Björgólfur
Guðmundsson and Björgólfur Thor
Björgólfsson—later of Icesave fame—
who had just returned from Russia,
where they apparently had become
fabulously wealthy from making beer.
Therefore, as often in Oddsson's
history, this was not a question of prin-
ciples, but of his personal likes and dis-
likes. Even if he was surrounded by lib-
eralist ideologues from his early days,
he never had much patience for analy-
sis or philosophical contemplation. For
him, Jón Ásgeir and Jóhannes were bad
guys; the two Björgólfurs were good
guys. Simple as that. This remained
his version of reality when he was gov-
ernor of the Central Bank and the
whole Icelandic banking system
was crumbling down—including
the Landsbanki owned by
Team Björgól-
fur, who, as it
transpired, hadn't
even paid for the bank
in the first place.
By then Oddsson was
ill and had to conva-
lesce for a while. He
became foreign
minister for a year,
and then he nomi-
nated himself to be gover-
nor of the Central Bank. His
successor as party leader and
Prime Minister was former
Minister of Finance Geir H.
Haarde, a faithful party man,
noted for being fair and po-
lite. Not a man with a big ego.
The ego has not yet landed
Haarde once remarked in an interview
that some people were maybe destined
to be number two. But now he was out
on his own as a PM, in a party that had
been moulded by Oddsson's ego. And
that ego was still around, as its bearer
had only moved over one small lawn of
grass, from the Prime Minister’s Office
to the Central Bank, where he kept on
with his machinations via his famous
telephone calls. Oddsson prided him-
self on not writing anything down
when he served as PM, and of being
computer illiterate.
The relationship between these two
men, Haarde and Oddsson, might be
one of the focal points in understand-
ing the crisis that culminated in Octo-
ber 2008. Of course it is extraordinary
to make a controversial politician of
Oddsson’s stature—a lawyer, not an
economist—into governor of a Central
Bank. As the crisis developed, Haarde
remained in close contact with his old
leader while at the same time keeping
information from his own ministers.
Oddsson claims that he gave nu-
merous warnings of the impending
collapse, but Haarde is very vague on
this. To many of Haarde's closest col-
laborators, it came as a complete sur-
prise when one of the banks, Glitnir,
was suddenly taken over by the govern-
ment, triggering the downfall of the
remaining banks a few days later.
Many of these decisions might be
understandable, but good governance
they were not.
Big brother’s watching you
At this point Oddsson came into a
meeting of the government, a coalition
of the Independence Party and the So-
cial Democrats, and demanded that a
national government comprising every
party be founded. This could conceiv-
ably have happened through complicat-
ed political manoeuvres, but the history
of Oddsson's very advocacy of the idea
made it almost impossible.
It seems that Oddsson had be-
come a sort of an infe-
riority complex induc-
ing big brother figure
to Haarde. He had been
following Oddson's lead
ever since his school days.
For him, sacrific-
ing Oddsson, for
example by firing
him from the Central
Bank, was unthink-
able, whereas Oddsson
would not have hesitated to
sacrifice Haarde in the blink of
an eye.
Of course, Haarde was first
Minister of Finance and then
Prime Minister, so he has much
to answer for. On the other hand,
he makes for a convenient fall
guy. Thus he is being presented
as a sort of an aberration with-
in the party history, an error
best forgotten, whereas the party
policies and institutions were sound at
all times.
Reform? What reform?
A defining moment was the party con-
vention in March of 2009. Members of
the party's grassroots had prepared a
meticulous report on how things had
failed and on the need to reform the
party. Late in the convention, Oddsson
asked for a word, burst upon the stage,
and gave a speech where he tore the re-
port apart with his usual sarcasm and,
true to form, blamed anybody but him-
self. In his mind there was no room for
soul searching. Mistakes should never
be admitted.
At that time, the new left wing gov-
ernment had successfully driven Odd-
sson out of the Central bank, whose
policies had failed dismally, fuelling
economic hypertension, currency
speculation and carry trade. The banks
had grown to twelve times the size of
the economy, with the fatal flaw of an
unsound currency and a Central Bank
that was incapable of backing them up.
Through complicated speculation, the
banks had managed to strip the Central
Bank of its funds, leaving it technically
bankrupt, so the government had to
come to its rescue.
Oddson on the warpath
Never one to rest, Oddsson was now
on the warpath. He is not a man to sit
down and write his memoirs, for him
it is unthinkable not to be pulling the
strings. He set his eyes on the editor-
ship of Morgunblaðið, the formerly
near-almighty daily newspaper in Ice-
land. It is said that he called in all sorts
of favours to attain the position, and he
finally succeeded when a small group
of fishing-quota owners managed to
buy the almost bankrupt newspaper,
now but a shadow what it was in its
heyday.
Since Oddsson took over, read-
ers have abandoned the newspaper in
droves. Now, the newspaper that spent
many decades building a broad reader-
ship base has turned into a vehicle for
Oddsson's personal tirade of likes and
dislikes; it is militantly anti-EU, pro
quota owners, against any compromise
in the Icesave scandal, vehemently anti-
Jón Ásgeir and Jóhannes Jóhannesson,
who teeter at the brink of bankruptcy.
Oddsson's energy is remarkable; he
himself pens the majority of Morgun-
blaðið’s editorial materials himself.
Oddson’s magic
This erratic giant of Icelandic politics
for three decades is thus still trying to
decide the fate of his party, and of the
Icelandic nation. Political enemies refer
to his tight group of followers as "The
Court of the Dead," which of course is
rather rude. That, however, reflects the
anger and strong feelings Oddsson pro-
vokes in many parts. In some ways, it is
convenient to use American politics as
metaphor for the Independence Party,
and talk about Oddsson's unapologetic
Republican group and the more concil-
iatory Democrat side to the party.
Many within the party are still very
susceptible to Oddson’s magic. His in-
fluence seems to be on the rise again,
and some even see a return of the bad
old days when party members dared
not speak their mind for fear of retri-
bution. Present party chairman Bjarni
Benediktsson seems very indecisive;
he faces the challenge of keeping at
least the perception of the party being
at peace, not an easy task with the old
leader and his big ego still lurking.
The more timid “Democrats” fear
Oddsson's ascent and have finally be-
gun organizing themselves by forming
a pro-EU fraction within the party—a
move considered treasonous by many
of Oddson's followers—and by plac-
ing one from their ranks as editor of
Fréttablaðið, Iceland's most widely read
newspaper: owned by the aforemen-
tioned Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, the
constant arch-enemy of Davíð Odds-
son.
23
Davíð Oddson On The Warpath
The ongoing saga of modern Iceland’s most inf luential figure
eGIll HelGaSOn
JulIa STaPleS / GÚnDI
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 03 — 2010
analysis | Egill Helgason, Political and Social Commentator
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