Erling Lae


Erling Lae is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party.
He was born in Oslo, is a cand.philol. by education and formerly worked as a journalist. From 1981 to 1985 he was a political advisor in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Administration. He was elected to Oslo city council in 1991, and was a city commissioner between 1997 and 2000. From 2000 to 2009 he was the governing mayor of Oslo. As such he headed the executive branch of the city government in the capital city of Norway.
He was a deputy leader of the Conservative Party from 2008 to 2010. In 2010 he was announced as the new county governor of Vestfold, succeeding Mona Røkke. He was, however, replaced in the summer of 2016 by Per Arne Olsen.
Lae is openly gay. He is married to Jens Torstein Olsen, a Lutheran minister.