Guttorm Hansen

Guttorm Hansen (3 November 1920 – 2 April 2009) was a Norwegian writer and politician for the Labour Party. He started his career as a mechanic, but after 1945 he was a journalist and editor of magazines and newspapers. Via local politics in his native Namsos he was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1961, serving six terms in total. He was the President of the Storting for two of these terms, from 1973 to 1981. He was also known as a prolific book writer, many of his books having a direct connection to his political life.

He was born in Namsos as the son of mechanic Håkon Hansen (1895–1963) and housewife Agnes Selnes (1900–1924). Before 1945 he worked as a mechanic himself, and since he only had promary education, he took extra education in the evenings. From 1945 to 1948 he worked as a journalist and subeditor in the temperance magazine Menneskevennen. He then worked as editor-in-chief of Firdaposten from 1948 to 1951 and as a journalist in Namdal Arbeiderblad from 1951 to 1961.

Hansen's mother died from tuberculosis, and due to his social background and environment it was no surprise that he joined the labour movement. He started his party political career in the Workers' Youth League, and sat in its central committee as secretary from 1947 to 1948. He was a member of Namsos municipal council from 1955 to 1963, and served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Nord-Trøndelag during the term 1958–1961. During the same period he chaired the party chapter in Namdalen. In 1961 he was elected for his first proper term in the Norwegian Parliament. He would be re-elected on five occasions, his last term ending in 1985. When the first cabinet Bratteli held office between 1971 and 1972, Hansen became leader of the Labour Party parliamentary council. From 1973 to 1981 he served as President of the Storting. Also, he was asked three times to become a government minister, but declined. He was regarded by himself and others as a legislator first and foremost, and in 1985 the newspaper Dagbladet labelled him "the last Eidsvoll man".

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