Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is up for re-election and headlines are currently not in his favour: when it's not poll numbers showing him flattened by the opposition parties, it's an Aftonbladet reporter strolling into his bedroom under a false name without Säpo asking any questions beyond "are you Lisa?"
The reporter was there to investigate whether the Fållökna Foundation, a Christian spiritual retreat centre co-run by Kristersson's wife, Birgitta Ed, and the couple's friend Göran Thorstensson, was blurring lines between public and private – especially in its use of volunteer labour.
Volunteers at the centre's country estate retreat – which includes a house wing co-owned by Ed and Kristersson – are promised "a good network" in exchange for free labour.
But is it really corruption? Well, it depends how you feel about chickens.
Chickens?!
Allow us to explain. In May 2026 Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that in 2023, the Prime Minister and his wife had chicken coops built on the farm estate Harpsund, which is owned by the Swedish state and intended for use by the Prime Minister. It can also be used for other government business.
The couple paid for the chickens and the coops themselves, but the assembly bill of 16,691 kronor was footed by the taxpayer. When contacted by media, the Prime Minister's office said the couple was not aware that taxpayer money had been used and would pay it back.
OK, that's a bit silly but maybe not such a big deal if they're paying it back. Is that all?
Nope! In 2024 Kristersson's management of the Harpsund estate was also in headlines for a pricey gym renovation: 487,000 kronor of government money was spent on expensive training equipment and other upgrades, including leg-training machines and a mirror wall. The Prime Minister's Stockholm residence, Sagerska, also got a gym upgrade under Kristersson; the total cost to the taxpayer of both gym renovations was 653,000 kronor.
Must be nice! But it still doesn't sound like corruption. Got anything else?
Yep! Kristersson's use of both the Harpsund and Sagerska residences have repeatedly come under media scrutiny, as it seems that he and his family make use of both for private parties in a way not commonly done by Swedish Prime Ministers.
In 2025, Aftonbladet reported that he allowed his daughter to use Harpsund for a student party. Perhaps more dubiously, an exclusive dinner for alumni of Europaskolan Strängnäs, a private school of which Birgitta Ed is co-chair of the board, was held at Sagerska (also in 2025). The Prime Minister's press secretary refused to tell reporters if Kristersson would attend the event, saying it was a private matter.
Critics of the private school alumni dinner point out that state-funded private, or independent, schools (called friskolor in Swedish) are a hotly debated topic in Swedish politics, and such an event being hosted at the official Prime Minister's residence smacks of special access lobbying. Defenders point out that Birgitta Ed is a separate person from Ulf Kristersson and it's her home too.
Speaking of homes...
Kristersson still gets flak for an apartment he got under potentially suspect circumstances while a Stockholm City Councillor in 2008. At the time he was the councillor responsible for social services, making 90,000 kronor a month, and was roundly criticised when it was discovered he had personally secured a central rental apartment from a property service with municipal government contracts that was supposed to provide apartments for the ill and vulnerable.
A few years later, it was reported that after selling off public property assets well below market price to Einar Mattsson AB, whose CEO Stefan Ränk was a friend of Kristersson's, Kristersson then obtained a prime rental property from the company.
After rising to become a member of parliament and economic policy spokesperson for the Moderates, headlines came for Kristersson again, when it was revealed that he took 668 taxis on the public purse – for a total of 113,000 kronor – during the years 2015 and 2016, even though Swedish MPs are given free Stockholm transport cards and are required to take public transport whenever possible.
OK that doesn't seem...great. But it was a long time ago. Anything more recent? Besides the chickens.
Well, back at the Fållökna estate – that's the Christian retreat centre that's privately owned, partially by Kristersson and his wife – it seems that the foundation's promise to volunteers of "a good network" can pay off.
According to Aftonbladet's reporting, volunteers at the retreat centre are often top business leaders and lobbyists, and at least two of them have gotten plum government jobs soon after their volunteer time at Fållökna.
At the Fållökna foundation event infiltrated by Aftonbladet's reporter recently – the one where she was shown into the Prime Ministerial couple's bedroom, during a standard Swedish home tour of the property – it wasn't just Birgitta Ed and volunteers in attendance: Kristersson was also there, as he apparently is at some other Fållökna events.
But according to the Prime Minister, he wasn't there to fulfil the foundation's promises to volunteers of "a good network": he was just among the weeds with a brush saw.
Beyond Fållökna and the various parties at Harpsund and Sagerska, there are other dubious (or at least, dubious-looking) incidents too – including the big jump in state money received by his wife's sister's foundation, with Kristersson personally present in the meeting when the extra millions were approved (and taken from a fund intended for "integration and equality") – but you don't have all day.
So let's just end on the chickens, shall we? Because no matter where we land on all this, at least it wasn't their fault.