Jesse Klaver, leader of the Dutch Green Left, which ate the Dutch Labour vote whole this week.
Yet another cold bucket of water has been tipped over the heads of Labour and social democrats everywhere. The PvdA, Labour’s Dutch sister party, has just suffered a catastrophic decline in support from 34 MPs to 9. It follows in the wake of PASOK in Greece, annihilation in Scotland, crisis in Italy and loss of power and influence for social democrats everywhere. In France next month the Socialist candidate is likely to finish fourth. Yes, Martin Schulz, the SPD candidate for the premiership, is enjoying polling success in Germany but this could just be the fact that he is the new face in the race. Come September it could look very different, not least because it’s unclear if he has any real sense of political project. So even if his does win office he is unlikely to win or build the power to do much. Its more likely to be Hollandism than anything transformative.
So if you were harbouring any hope that there was some charismatic centre-left leader or technical fix to the existential crisis of social democracy – the Dutch result forces us to think again. To bring the debate back to these shores, the crisis of Labour simply cements the notion of the floor disappearing beneath of the feet of social democrats.
