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Can populists survive in public office? Ask Geert Wilders…

5 15
10.06.2025

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS – JUNE 4: PVV faction leader Geert Wilders attends a debate at the Dutch House of Representatives on June 4, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands. Dutch politicians are participating in a debate over the collapse of the Netherland’s coalition government, following the withdrawal of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) on Tuesday. Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigrant, anti-Islam PVV, announced his party’s departure after other coalition members refused to back his extremist plans for “the strictest asylum policy ever.” A snap election is likely to be called, with a caretaker government led by outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof in place in the interim. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

Right-wing firebrand Geert Wilders has withdrawn from government in the Netherlands after discovering that governing is harder than criticising from the fringes. It’s a lesson Nigel Farage may learn too, say Eliot Wilson

Last week, greeted by more weary fatalism than surprise, the government of the Netherlands collapsed. On Tuesday, radical nationalist Geert Wilders withdrew his Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid) from the four-party coalition of which it had been the largest partner. He wanted to freeze asylum migration completely, send Syrian refugees back to their home country and stop construction of asylum centres, but the other parties refused their support. A last-ditch crisis meeting lasted for a minute, then the PVV was gone. The prime minister, former spy chief Dick Schoof, offered his........

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