Bjørn Arild Gram

On 4 January 2023, Gram announced that Norway would be donating 10 000 modern long-range artillery shells from the country's own arsenal, to Ukraine.

In a press release on 19 December, Gram announced that the housing benefits would rise through January to March 2022. He also stressed that people should apply to get the benefits by 31 December, and those who already had it didn't have to apply again for the given period.

In early January 2022, the government announced that small houses will still be built with chimneys, in effect meaning that they would not go in to remove the requirement for single-family homes to have a chimney in accordance with building regulations. Gram stressed the importance of chimneys, stating: "It is important that people can keep warm if there is a natural disaster or other major event. By keeping the requirement for a chimney, we make it easier for more people to burn firewood".

After Odd Roger Enoksen resigned in the wake of revelations of multiple inappropriate sexual relations with younger women, Gram was appointed his successor on 12 April 2022. During the minor reshuffle, Sigbjørn Gjelsvik was appointed his successor as minister of local government.

Gram was appointed minister of local government in Jonas Gahr Støre's cabinet on 14 October 2021.

In April, Gram announced that notable changes to the electoral law would be made, that previously were exclusively made for the 2021 election during the COVID-19 pandemic; could be permanently implemented. Further changes included for early votes to be counted as soon as the first Sunday before Election Day, and for local electrical commissions to establish other voting locations within their respective constituencies. The Ministry plans to follow up on these changes recommended by a commission set down, to propose an amendment to the electoral law to be put forward in early 2023.

At a press conference on 20 October, alongside prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre and justice minister Emilie Enger Mehl; Gram assured that the Norwegian Army had put in measures as soon as in December 2021 to strengthen itself. He further informed that the Norwegian Intelligence Service had received more supplies, and that the skies and territorial waters were being heavily patrolled. He also sympathised with concerns about the situation in Europe, and added that "we won't be scared".

In February 2020, he was appointed the new chair of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, and stepped down as mayor the next month.

On 23 May, Dagbladet revealed that Gram had received double salary when he concurrently was mayor of Steinkjer and a deputy member of Parliament in 2018 and 2019. Gram clarified that he had repaid Steinkjer municipality, in order to remove any doubt about his integrity.

In 2016, during his time as mayor, Gram was among ten participants at a cabin in Sweden when a text message saying "We want your pussy" was sent to former party leader Liv Signe Navarsete. Like the nine other participants, he denied to have sent the message.

Gram started his political career as a deputy representative to the Storting from Nord-Trøndelag, and went on to serve in said position on two more occasions. He served as a state secretary in the Ministry of Finance from 2005 to 2007, when he became mayor of Steinkjer. He stepped down as mayor in 2020 when he was appointed chair of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, a position he held until his ministerial appointment in 2021.

From 1996 to 1998 he chaired the Centre Youth, the youth wing of the Centre Party. On the local level Gram served as the mayor of Steinkjer from 2007 to 2020, having formerly been a member of the county council from 1991 to 2000. He was a member of Nord-Trøndelag county council from 1995 to 2019, and has chaired the county party chapter.

He served as a deputy representative to the Storting from Nord-Trøndelag from 1993–1997, 2001–2009 and 2013–2021. From 2005 to 2007 Gram was a member of Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet as State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. In 2013, as Marit Arnstad from Nord-Trøndelag was a member of the outgoing Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet, Gram met as a regular representative during the two weeks before the cabinet change.

He studied at Nord-Trøndelag University College from 1991 to 1997 and took the siv.øk. degree at Bodø University College in 2000. He was employed in Telenor Mobil from 2000 to 2005.

Bjørn Arild Gram (born 7 May 1972 in Steinkjer) is a Norwegian politician currently serving as minister of defence since 2022. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as minister of local government from 2021 to 2022.