Bjarni Benediktsson (born 26 January 1970), known as Bjarni Ben, is an Icelandic politician. He was the Prime Minister from January to November 2017. He has been the leader of the Icelandic Independence Party since 2009. He was Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs from 2013 to 2017, a post he later retained under Katrin Jakobsdottir.