As sergeant major of the CDA, Piet Bukman (1934-2022) had too little grace for the really big work

The Delft horticulturist Piet Bukman, born in 1934, made a fine career in the Christian agricultural organization after his studies in human geography. In 1975, at the age of 41, he became chairman of the Dutch Christian Farmers and Gardeners Union. He was also a board member of the ARP, in which he wholeheartedly supported the unification with KVP and CHU to form the CDA. This led to the chairmanship of the new CDA.

Bukman did not have an attractive style. He spoke shrilly and curtly and he could be authoritarian, as the peasants were more used to. In the new CDA he silenced dissidents and ordered applause, as it were. “I played the CDA sergeant major, but it worked,” he said later. He was called ‘the Canute’, and also ‘the Lenin of Voorschoten’, the latter because he demanded a kind of party discipline that had been abolished in the CPN as insufficiently democratic.

Bukman insisted on unity and actually managed to prevent the new party from being torn apart by conflicts between blood groups and between the left and right wing. The voter didn’t like that. In fact, the chairman, together with party leader Bert de Vries, made the left wing immature.

Bukman mediated between party leader Van Agt and party leader Lubbers

In the CDA summit there were always tensions between party leader and Prime Minister Van Agt and faction leader Lubbers. Bukman mediated and prevented escalation. His greatest achievement is the smooth change of power in the party in October 1982. Van Agt suddenly gave up during the formation of the cabinet and appointed Minister Jan de Koning as his successor. Bukman knew that Van Agt had become more controversial and did not oppose his departure. He convened a top meeting within 24 hours, at which he was the first to give the floor to De Koning. He strongly refused the leadership and praised Ruud Lubbers, a choice that Van Agt had to accept.

After five years, the CDA got tired of the chairman’s bulky and monotonous style. Bukman was awarded the ministry of Development Cooperation. After the somewhat chaotic Eegje Schoo, that turned out to be a useful appointment. Bukman’s peasant sobriety had the disadvantage that he conveyed little enthusiasm. He was also the first to cut aid by helping to pay for the reception of asylum seekers (‘pollution of aid’). Jan Pronk would later blame Schoo and Bukman for not developing new ideas.

The formation of 1989 brought a deep disappointment. The two AR ministerial posts had already been given to Bert de Vries and Hanja Maij-Weggen (the agreed third woman in the cabinet). Piet Bukman was therefore relegated to State Secretary for Foreign Trade, a humiliation. More than a year later he was again minister of Agriculture, because Gerrit Braks was sent away because of the failing fisheries policy.

Bukman once again brought peace to a messy organization. But he was not loved by the Catholic farmers and the arable farmers. Agreements he made with the agricultural organizations aroused fierce resistance from the members. The pillarized model turned out to be no longer working and Bukman therefore feared for the future of the CDA.

Leaked letter about lower gas rates

In the rough months before the enormous election defeat of 1994, a letter from Minister Bukman to colleague Andriessen of Economic Affairs was leaked. In it, Bukman asked for lower gas rates for the horticulturists, with a view to their election support. A storm of indignation arose and Lubbers scolded his minister. In the campaign it was Braks, not Bukman, who addressed the farmers.

Bukman spent two years as a low-profile MP in the opposition, after which he was appointed President of the House because of his extensive administrative experience. It turned out not to be a happy move. The former minister was not interested enough in most debates and said MPs at the wrong times. Once he made a mistake in counting the votes, after which he tried in vain to silence critics. He did not run for re-election in 1998.

All in all a nice career in the sub-top, but Bukman had too little grace and flexibility for the big work. More of a doer than a thinker. One of his sympathetic traits was that he could talk candidly and without great shame about his own failure. With all his limitations, Piet Bukman was a powerful and valuable administrator.