It was not his party colleague Minister Henk Kamp with whom René Leegte (VVD) made a controversial phone call on Tuesday 6 January 2015 on the train between Groningen and Amersfoort. And neither is party chairman Halbe Zijlstra.
An emotional René Leegte, Member of Parliament for the VVD in 2010-2015, revealed the true story behind the telephone call on the train on Tuesday afternoon, which forced him to put down the gas extraction portfolio at the time. During his interrogation by the parliamentary committee of inquiry in The Hague, he said, after being silent about this for seven years, that it was simply his spokesperson with whom he had telephoned after a working visit to Groningen.
To the spokesperson, who asked him if he wanted to tell the media about the working visit, he said that he had avoided the media in Groningen as much as possible. After all, it was a private working visit. The standing parliamentary committee for Economic Affairs had, among other things, spoken with a victimized family. “I didn’t think I had much news to report, other than that it was terrible for the people of Groningen,” Leegte explained to the committee of inquiry.
Pap and keep wet
The information officer told Leegte, who was on his way home, that PvdA MP Jan Vos wanted to investigate scenarios for phasing out gas extraction. Leegte thought this was unwise, because according to him it had been clear for a long time that gas extraction had to come down. According to him, the VVD was also convinced of this. An additional investigation was only “popping and keeping the Groningers wet”, he told the spokesman. It would only slow down the process.
What became fatal for Leegte as a spokesperson for gas extraction was that an activist from Fossielvrij NL was also in the same train section. It only caught the ‘grabbing and wetness of the Groningers’, the ‘slowing down of the process’ and the fact that Leegte had avoided the media as much as possible. The activist believed that Leegte discussed the VVD tactics with regard to gas extraction with a superior, and made snippets of the conversation public via Twitter.
Exploded phone
Journalists then called the VVD faction to ask questions about this. There, a spokesperson, who became very stressed, said that Leegte regretted his call on the train. “As if what I said was right,” said Void bitterly. He himself only found out days later what had happened. That was the following weekend, when journalists had published about it and his phone “exploded.” The whole of Groningen was furious at Leegte, local VVD directors also felt that the phone call should have “severe consequences” for the MP.
Void says he deliberately chose not to correct the distorted image in the media. Instead, he resigned from his spokesmanship, reinforcing the perception in many that he had done something wrong. The committee of inquiry asked him why he had not told the truth right away. Leegte said it should be “about the content,” not about him as a person. With tears in his eyes and a faltering voice, he said in the survey room: “Making myself more important as a person than the content did not do justice to the unrest in Groningen. I have agreed with the group chairman that it would be wise if I no longer do the file. That would distract from the content.”
According to him, the provincial elections also played a part. If there weren’t any, he might have been able to explain it, he thought.
This article is also part of our live blog: Former MP Leegte (VVD) provides clarification about notorious phone call in train