Craftiness

'A fourth cabinet under the leadership of Mark Rutte is a long way off,' the AD said in its analysis. Integrity and Rutte don't go together in the yes of many non-VVD voters, the paper said. In the ten years of being prime minister Rutte survived many a crisis `but a slight air of craftiness always remained.

'Loss of memory, broken promises, withheld information, documents that only appear after MPs and journalists press for them...' the paper enumerated Rutte's failings. 'And now this!'

According to the Telegraaf a cabinet formation so marred by controversy as this one predicts a very small chance of success for a resulting cabinet. 'It will be a 'vechtkabinet'', with parties continually at each other's throats, the paper said.

The Financieele Dagblad foresees the `end of Mark Rutte's hegemony' pointing out the seriousness of the matter by singling out the 'usually amenable' SGP [Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij - Orthodox Calvinist Political Party] which supported the motion of no confidence against Mark Rutte and called it 'a historical step in the existence of the country's oldest party'.