He was junior minister (statssekretær) in the Department of the Environment 1990-1991, Minister of Industry 1993-1996, and Minister of Finance 1996-1997. His first tenure as Prime Minister (2000 to 2001) was controversial within his own party, being responsible for reforms and modernisation of the welfare state that included part-privatising several key state-owned services and corporations. In the parliamentary elections of September 10, 2001, the party suffered its worst result since 1924, with only 24% of the votes. The disastrous results of 2001 were quickly followed by a leadership debate within the Labour party between its leader since 1992, Thorbjørn Jagland, and Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg finally took over as party leader on November 10, 2002, a possition he still holds as of August, 2006.
The 2005 parliamentary elections saw a vast improvement for Labour, and the party gained a majority in parliament together with the other "Red-Green" parties, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. This paved the way for a historic first in Norway, with Labour joining in a coalition government, the Red-Green Coalition. Stoltenberg became Prime Minister for the second time on October 17 2005.
Stoltenberg has announced that he suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, but insists that he has a mild form of the disease that causes him few problems.
He belongs to a family which in the 17th century emigrated to mainland Norway, from the North German village of Stoltenberg in Schleswig-Holstein (the Duchies were then in a personal union with the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway).
