Opinion

<<<  >>>

Bos takes a gamble, but has he won?

Saturday 20 February 2010

The Labour leader could have picked a lot more relevant issues to force a showdown with the Christian Democrats, writes Robin Pascoe

There can have been few people who thought the cabinet would manage to survive the crisis over Afghanistan, given the open antagonism and veiled accusations of the past few weeks.

Indeed, it is perhaps more surprising that ministers managed to take all of Friday and the small hours of Saturday to decide what everyone else was already saying: that trust between the prime minister and his deputy had gone and we needed a new government.

Still, it does seem odd that considering the economic crisis and everything else going on around us that the cabinet should fall over something as relatively minor as whether 1,800 Dutch soldiers should stay in Afghanistan for another year.

Bos said he was sticking to the August withdrawal deadline in order to keep his promise to the voters. But why is he making such a principled stand about that?

After all, he has agreed that the state pension age be increased from 65 to 67 – something no voter has yet had any say on and certainly was not part of Labour's last election manifesto.

He has fallen in o line over the introduction of a kilometer tax on motoring – again, not part of Labour's last election manifesto.

He has been part of a cabinet which supports increased market forces and privatisation in healthcare – hardly a Labour party position.

And when it comes to the highly critical report on the Dutch role in Iraq, he has allowed the prime minister to use the hoary old 'with hindsight' argument to smooth over the criticism and promise to do better next time.

These are all perhaps more worthy issues to force a show down with the Christian Democrats and a new election. But not, it seems, to Bos.

So what of Afghanistan? Everyone seems to have forgotten Bos has already agreed to a two year extension of the Dutch mission.

We should have pulled out in 2008, but the cabinet, which included Bos, agreed to a new 2010 deadline. So much for promises to the voters.

Now, of course, thanks to the collapse of the government, voters will finally have the chance to make their feelings felt about all these issues. Bos has taken a gamble. We've got three months before the general election, when we will find out if he has won.

Robin Pascoe is a journalist and editor of DutchNews.nl

Readers' comments