New Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof denied that he had a racist cabinet and told PVV leader Geert Wilders that he would choose his own words in an uncomfortable first parliamentary debate.

Opposition MPs repeatedly asked political newcomer Schoof to respond to claims of racism by cabinet ministers.

Wilders, who did not win the new coalition’s confidence to serve as prime minister himself, criticised Schoof’s reaction and said he would have been “angry” and immovable.

In the first signs of tension between the experimental non-partisan prime minister and the head of the largest parliamentary party, Schoof responded: “There aren’t any racists in this cabinet, as I have already said. But I choose my own words…I am a prime minister for everyone in the Netherlands and I do not exclude anyone.”

Wilders immediately tweeted that he thought Schoof’s response was “weak”. But when challenged by D66 leader Rob Jetten on a “train crash” of a debate, Schoof stressed that he was in charge of the coalition agreement.

Jetten also raised the issue of a recent tweet by asylum minister Marjolein Faber, from the PVV, describing MP Esmah Lahlah as a “Labour headscarf”. He asked Schoof to look her in the eye and confirm he saw her as a person.

In an emotional response, Lahlah added: “For the past two days, it has been about headscarves. As a woman with a headscarf in this parliament, I say: I wear a headscarf and this is a free choice…and for all the girls who wear a headscarf and are affected….it’s your choice and you can achieve anything you want.”

Omvolking

PVV ministers sparked controversy before the new government even started for their use of far-right terminology. Faber last week distanced herself from her use of the term “omvolking”, once associated with the Nazis and now used by conspiracy theorists to refer to white elites supposedly importing immigrants to change the white majority.

Trade minister Reinette Klever has also referred to this “Great Replacement” theory, as has the speaker of the house, Martin Bosma, when he was still a PVV parliamentarian.

Schoof said: “I know for sure that all members of the cabinet are not racist, don’t talk about omvolking, and that that this will never be the line of my cabinet.”