Thomas Bodström

Bodström played professional football in the 1980s as a defender and represented Allsvenskan club AIK between 1987 and 1989, making a total of 48 league appearances and scoring three goals for the club. Prior to representing AIK, he also played for Spånga IS and Enköpings SK FK.

In 1990, Bodström graduated from Stockholm University with a Degree of Master of Laws, LL.M. After that, he worked as a lawyer for ten years. During his career, he took interest in international affairs, and in 1999, he joined the board of the Swedish branch of the international organisation Lawyers Without Borders. However, when Prime Minister Göran Persson announced his new cabinet appointment on 11 October 2000, Bodström was a completely unknown face to most of the political journalists attending the press conference. At the time, he was not even a member of the Social Democratic Party. Although Bodström was a newcomer to national politics, he remained in his post until 2006 in two Persson cabinets, surviving calls for his resignation after several high-profile prison breaks during summer 2004. During his term in office, Bodström was heavily criticized by advocates of privacy and liberal think tanks, for acting to give the police the opportunity to monitor those who might be involved in minor crimes, as well as other things they argued were intrusive to privacy. He has written a book, 700 dagar i Rosenbad (700 days in Rosenbad), about his experiences as a newcomer in the government. From October 2006 until October 2010, he was the chairman of the Riksdag committee for judicial issues. When the new parliament was elected in 2010, Bodström lost his position as a committee chairman. Shortly after that, he requested half-time leave of absence from his seat in parliament,…

Thomas Bodström is the son of Lennart Bodström, who was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1982 to 1985 in the Olof Palme government.