Iron Erna’s softer side wins through in Norway election

Erna Solberg, set to be Norway's next prime minister, has transformed herself from a tough-minded "Iron Erna" into a softer Conservative more caring about voters' jobs, health and schools.

Solberg, 52, even wrote a book in 2011 called People, not Billions that widened her appeal as leader of a right-wing party often criticised as more focused on tax cuts for the rich than on the welfare of ordinary Norwegians.

Her Conservative Party and three smaller centrist and right-wing allies won a majority in Norway's parliament on Monday, when voters turned their back on eight years of centre-left rule under Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

The win is a remarkable turnaround for a woman who had to fend off calls to resign in early 2009 when she was accused of being out of touch with voters in the nation, one of the richest in the world thanks to offshore oil.

Her softer style is a far cry from the days when she was dubbed "Iron Erna" for tightening immigration rules as local government minister in a previous centre-right coalition from 2001-05.