Jagland's cabinet, albeit short-lived, was marked by controversies, with two ministers being forced to withdraw following personal scandals. Jagland, who was much ridiculed in the media for his quotes and statements and frequently portrayed as incompetent, resigned following the 1997 election, as a consequence of his much ridiculed 36.9 ultimatum, even though his party won the most votes. In 2010 a group of forty prominent historians ranked Jagland as the weakest Norwegian prime minister since the end of the Second World War; two years before, his predecessor Gro Harlem Brundtland had criticized his premiership in harsh terms and described Jagland as "stupid". Also his term as Foreign Minister was marked by controversies, due to his perceived lack of qualification for the office and quotes and statements that were considered inappropriate. Jagland was widely perceived to have been passed over when Jens Stoltenberg formed his second cabinet in 2005.