Inger Gunvor Lindquist was a lawyer and member of parliament for the conservative party, mainly active during the 1970s and 1980s.

Inger Lindquist was born in 1926 in Gothenburg, the daughter of Anna Sofia Dahlin and Nils Magnusson, a mechanical engineer. During the years 1951—1980, Inger Lindquist was married to Ulf Lindquist, a high court judge. She started her professional career as a lawyer and subsequently became a deputy judge at the Gothenburg City Hall Court in 1965—1971, magistrate at the Gothenburg Crown Court in 1971—1980, chief magistrate in 1980—1987, and judge in 1987—1992. She became well-known to the general public through the popular TV legal series Vad säger lagen that was based on real cases and in which she acted as the judge.

Inger Lindquist represented Gothenburg City in Parliament in 1974—1982 as a conservative. The conservative party, Moderata samlingspartiet, had had difficulty in finding politically experienced candidates and Inger Lindquist, who had not previously been active in the party, was one of the candidates launched for election. Prior to the election in 1976, she won the Gothenburg conservatives’ internal test election, but several members were opposed to her standing as first candidate on the parliamentary list. On her fiftieth birthday, she was however nominated as the candidate for the youth association (MUF). It finally succeeded in getting her the first place on the list.

Inger Lindquist was very active in the election campaign with innumerable public meetings all round Gothenburg. Her audience — the voters — were also allowed to put questions to her to which she very skilfully responded.

During her years in Parliament in 1974—1982, Inger Lindquist was mainly active in the fields of legal safeguards and legal security and as the conservative spokeswoman in the legal committee, but she was also engaged in questions of education and economic politics. She frequently put forward motions, adding up to a total of 104 parliamentary motions of her own, diverse questions and interpellations, and 39 speeches.

Inger Lindquist was a member of several state committees and inquiries, including the youth prison inquiry, the county courts committee, the copyright inquiry, the administration inquiry, the non-institutional care committee, and the violence commission. In these, her legal competence and her political engagement were combined.

Special attention was paid to her when she was appointed in 1977 to be the special investigator in the state investigation into prostitution, SOU 1981:71: Prostitutionen i Sverige. The investigation, the first of its kind, had as its chief secretary Hanna Olsson, who had different perceptions of certain issues from those of Inger Lindquist. As the investigator, Inger Lindquist took the initiative of dismissing two secretaries and the other experts. Shortly after that, the prostitution inquiry was able to complete its assignment.

In the investigation, Inger Lindquist wanted to focus on how prostitution could be counteracted, for example through education in schools, and not devote the main part of the work to the women who were already prostitutes. She did not want to criminalise the sale or purchase of sex either. The investigation became the start signal for an investment in socially preventative work against prostitution.

The criminologist and subsequently author and TV personality Leif GW Persson was one of the secretaries on the prostitution investigation. In his autobiographical book Master Detective Willy: the Story of My Career from 2018 he writes of Inger Lindquist: “I remember her as an honourable and decent person. Always glad and positive, the type of human being with whom it is easy to socialise. Also, she was a fully capable and legally reliable lawyer.”

After her years in Parliament, Inger Lindquist was elected as the chairwoman of the conservative association in Gothenburg in 1984—1986. She was also engaged on the board of the Swedish Red Cross in 1974—1980.

Inger Lindquist died in her home city of Gothenburg in 1992.