Governor of Stockholm County
In 2023 she was appointed Governor of Stockholm County by the Kristersson Cabinet.
In March 2024, her decision to recruit two of her close friends to well compensated positions within the administration, without announcing the positions as open, sparked controversy. While Kinberg Batra defends the recruitment, stating that the candidates are the best suited candidates for the positions, the controversy led the Swedish Prosecution Authority's anti-corruption agency (Riksenheten mot korruption) to launch an investigation. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed support for the anti-corruption investigation.
In a separate corruption allegation, Kinberg Batra expensed her private lunches and dinners on the government.
Kinberg Batra also received criticism for increasing the budget threefold for the Tessin Palace, the Governors official residence. During 2023 she defended these claims stating that the king's visit during his golden jubilee required more money to be spent at the palace. This increase in budget however remained in 2024 when no such events were scheduled to take place fueling mass criticism.
In April 2024 Kinberg Batra fired the Chief Director of Stockholm County Åsa Ryding, the second highest-ranking official in the county behind the Governor. The fired chief director was given SEK 2.2 million in compensation, funded by taxpayer money. In August 2024 the National Audit Office in response to this launched an investigation into the incident to determine whether or not the Governor is empowered to fire high ranking county officials such as the chief director or if this power is held by the Government alone, and to decide if the compensation was justified.
On 26 September 2024 the Justice Ombudsman announced harsh criticism against Kinberg Batra for among other things the hiring of her two friends earlier in March, stating that the decision disregarded the Instrument of Governments requirement of objectivity in the hiring process. This because according to the Ombudsman Kinberg Batra had in two cases already decided the outcome of the hiring process and in another hired an individual lacking the academic qualifications for the job. The same day Kinberg Batra declared she would not be resigning. The next day, on 27 September 2024, Minister for Public Administration Erik Slottner announced that Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the Government had lost confidence in Kinberg Batra as Governor of Stockholm County, and that the Government would force her to tender her resignation. The Government formally took the decision to depose Kinberg Batra during a cabinet meeting on 3 October.
Simultaneously it was announced that Kinberg Batra would be moved to the Government Offices and work there until 2029, when her term as Governor was supposed to end. She announced in March 2026 that she had terminated her contract and would leave the government offices by the end of March that year.
