Lucille Werner has hardly achieved anything as a Member of Parliament, but is still allowed to join Humberto Tan because of her imminent departure. A scandalous sign of weakness, says Victor Vlam.
Half the House of Representatives is empty, but who can sit at Humberto Tan’s talk show table? Lucille Werner. And of course purely and simply because she has such a well-known TV face. Her performance in the talk show was controversial at the end of last week, because she was hurt live on television by her CDA colleague Hugo de Jonge.
2.5 years Lucille
Given Lucille’s record as a Member of Parliament, it is a gross shame that she sat there at that talk show table, says media connoisseur Victor Vlam, whose first media riot ever was his TV quarrel with Lucille. “Actually, my conclusion was: she is only on that list because she is a celebrity and they wanted the media attention at the CDA.”
Victor continues in the latest episode of his podcast The Communicados: “When I look back at 2.5 years of Lucille Werner in the House of Representatives, I must say that I have seen that criticism really confirmed. Because I was also reading her farewell letter and what struck me is that she mentions very few concrete things that she has achieved.”
Pat on the back
Departing MPs always pat themselves on the back in their farewell letter by referring to their achievements. “With Lucille, the only concrete thing she mentioned in terms of performance is that there more subtitling and audio description have been added to television programs. (…) Two and a half years of membership in the House of Representatives has therefore yielded that.”
He continues: “To be honest, I think it’s a fairly meager yield of 2.5 to 3 years of membership in the House of Representatives. I think this indicates that she was not very good at her craft. I think it should be a wise lesson not to just put celebrities on all kinds of lists. The fact that she can present Lingo well does not mean that she is a good Member of Parliament.”
Really absurd
Lucille does not deserve such a performance at Humberto, says Victor. “I thought it was absurd that she sat there for ten minutes and that she was all patted on the back about how fantastic she had done.”
He continues: “So there are more than thirty MPs who are resigning and some of those people are less well-known, but they have achieved a thousand times more than they have and they don’t get such a farewell interview with Humberto.”
It’s just because she’s a Dutch celebrity, Victor decides. “Yes, that’s it, yes. So the question is: should you make that choice as a talk show? I think I would have made a different choice there.”
scolding
Lucille also received a scolding from Johan Derksen last week. “He has overestimated politics and himself, because if you play that fucking game over the years, that Lingo, then you are not someone who can control the Dutch government, are you? He went there with a lot of fanfare and did not make anything of it”, he snorted in VI.
Was Lucille indeed better at Lingo? “No, gel*l”, responds demissionary Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Jaïr Ferwerda. “No, really nonsense. I think she did well.”