That stamp has haunted Hermans, who was Rutte’s political assistant in the past, for years, especially now that she has been leader of her party in the House of Representatives for more than a year. At last Saturday’s VVD congress, she even devoted the beginning of her speech to it. Hermans told her party that as far as she is concerned, she is not where she is because she is the daughter of VVD prominent Loek Hermans or Rutte’s former assistant, but that it is her own merit.
How high Hermans is, is again shown on Wednesday when Wilders asks her ‘how long she still has the ambition to be the Prime Minister’s bag carrier’. That attack hits Hermans so hard that she couldn’t suppress the tears. She is supported by, among others, party leaders Paternotte (D66), Heerma (CDA) and Klaver (GL).
“The Dutch don’t care about how Mr. Wilders wants to start the debate with insults,” says Paternotte. “If Mr Wilders were a man, he would come here to apologize,” Heerma adds. Klaver thinks the PVV’s question is ‘out of all bounds’. Wilders himself, after a request from Chamber President Bergkamp to conduct the debate about the content, thinks that he is about his own words.