Barend Willem Biesheuvel (; 5 April 1920 – 29 April 2001) was a Dutch politician of the defunct

Anti-Revolutionary Party The Anti-Revolutionary Party ( nl, Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, ARP) was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and mi ...

(ARP) now the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA) party and jurist who served as

Prime Minister of the Netherlands The prime minister of the Netherlands ( nl, Minister-president van Nederland) is the head of the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands. Although the monarch is the ''de jure'' head of government, the prime minister ''de facto'' ...

from 6 July 1971 until 11 May 1973. Biesheuvel studied law at the Free University Amsterdam obtaining a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree and worked as a civil servant for the Provincial-executive of North Holland from September 1945 until January 1952 and as trade association executive for the Christian Farmers and Gardeners Association (CBTB) from January 1952 until July 1959 and as chairman from August 1956. Biesheuvel became a Member of the House of Representatives shortly after the number of seats was raised from 100 to 150 seats following the election of 1956 taking office on 6 November 1956 serving as a

frontbencher In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kn ...

and spokesperson for

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

, Local Government Affairs and Kingdom Relations. Biesheuvel was also selected as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

and dual served taking office on 7 March 1961. After Party Leader Sieuwert Bruins Slot announced his retirement Biesheuvel served as one of the ''

Lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

s'' (top candidates) for the election of 1963 and following the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

was selected as Leader and

Parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are their ...

on 5 June 1963. Following a cabinet formation Biesheuvel was appointed as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

and

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. ...

with the responsibility for Suriname and Netherlands Antilles Affairs in the Cabinet Marijnen taking office on 24 July 1963. The Cabinet Marijnen fell on 27 February 1965 and was replaced by the Cabinet Cals with Biesheuvel continuing his offices. The Cabinet Cals fell on 14 October 1966 and was replaced by the

caretaker Caretaker may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Caretaker'' (film), a 1963 adaptation of the play ''The Caretaker'' * '' The Caretakers'', a 1963 American film set in a mental hospital * Caretaker, a character in the 1974 film '' ...

Cabinet Zijlstra with Biesheuvel again retaining his functions. For the election of 1967 Biesheuvel served as ''Lijsttrekker'' but following a difficult cabinet formation failed to achieve a coalition and returned to the House of Representatives as Parliamentary leader taking office on 23 February 1967. For the election of 1971 Biesheuvel again served as ''Lijsttrekker'' and after a successful cabinet formation formed the Cabinet Biesheuvel I and became

taking office on 6 July 1971. The Cabinet fell on 19 July 1972 just a year into its term and was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Biesheuvel II with Biesheuvel continuing as Prime Minister. For the election of 1972 Biesheuvel served once again as ''Lijsttrekker'' but the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition led by

Labour Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of the ...

Joop den Uyl Johannes Marten den Uijl, better known as Joop den Uyl (; 9 August 1919 – 24 December 1987) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 to 1977. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). ...

. Biesheuvel left office following the installation of the Cabinet Den Uyl on 11 May 1973 and announced his retirement and stepped down as Leader on 15 May 1973. Biesheuvel retired from active politics at just 53 and became active in the private and

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

s as a corporate and non-profit director and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government, and continued to be active as a lobbyist for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

advocating for more European integration. Biesheuvel was known for his abilities as skillful manager and effective

Debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

r. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for several major

reforms by stimulating further deregulation and endorsing more

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

. Biesheuvel continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 81 from cardiovascular disease. He holds the distinction as leading the last cabinet in which the prime minister was not from the largest party in the coalition, and his premiership is consistently considered both by scholars and the public to have been below average.

Early life

Barend Willem Biesheuvel was born on 5 April 1920 in Haarlemmerliede in the

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of North Holland in a Reformed family, the son of Arie Biesheuvel (born 21 January 1883 in Haarlemmerliede – died 21 May 1952 in Haarlemmerliede) and Johanna Margaretha "Antje" Troost (born 22 February 1881 in Sloten – died 12 December 1955 in Fijnaart). Biesheuvel had three brothers and two sisters. After completing his secondary education at local schools, he graduated in law at the Free University of Amsterdam in September 1945. For the next two years Biesheuvel worked in Alkmaar as secretary to the Food Commissioner for the Province of North Holland. In 1947 he became secretary to the Foreign Division of the Agricultural Society (now the Agricultural Board). In 1952 Biesheuvel became general secretary of the Christian Farmers and Gardeners Association of the Netherlands (CBTB) and in 1959 chairman of that organisation. From the same year he was also a member of the Agricultural Board, the Labour Foundation and the boards of the Centrale Raifeissen Bank and Heidemij.

Politics

Between 1956 and 1963 he represented the

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

(the lower house of parliament). From 1957 to 1961 he held a seat on the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and from 1961 to 1963 in the European Parliament. In the successive administrations headed by Marijnen, Cals and Zijlstra between 24 July 1963 and 5 April 1967 he was Deputy Prime Minister with additional responsibility for matters concerning Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. In 1967 he returned to the

and became leader of the parliamentary

. During the same period he also chaired the Shipbuilding Board and the Committee on Government Information Reform. From 1971 to 1973 Biesheuvel was prime minister of the Netherlands.

After politics

Following his political career, Biesheuvel went on to occupy many other positions in the public and private sectors. Among other things, he was chairman of the supervisory board of the National Investment Bank, a member of the supervisory boards of OGEM and KLM, and chaired the working party on the Netherlands Antilles, the national advisory committee on the relationship between the electorate and policy-making, the Provisional Council for Transport, Public Works and Water Management and the Interministerial Coordinating Committee on North Sea Affairs (ICONA).

Personal life

On 22 November 1945, Biesheuvel married his longtime partner, Wilhelmina Jacoba "Mies" Meuring (born 7 August 1919). They had two daughters and one son. Mies Meuring died on 17 January 1989 at the age of 69. Barend Biesheuvel died in a hospital in Haarlem from cardiovascular disease on 29 April 2001 at the age of 81. Biesheuvel and his wife were buried at the main cemetery in

Bloemendaal Bloemendaal () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Bloemendaal is, together with Wassenaar, the wealthiest place in the Netherlands. In October 2015, after persistent problems with the local governa ...

.Barend Biesheuvel (81) overleden
Volkskrant, 1 May 2001

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Mr. B.W. (Barend) Biesheuvel
Parlement & Politiek *
Kabinet-Biesheuvel
Rijksoverheid {{DEFAULTSORT:Biesheuvel, Barend 1920 births 2001 deaths Anti-Revolutionary Party MEPs Anti-Revolutionary Party politicians Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Deaths from cardiovascular disease Deputy Prime Ministers of the Netherlands Dutch bankers Dutch chief executives in the finance industry Dutch corporate directors Dutch lobbyists Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch officials of the European Union Dutch trade association executives European Union lobbyists Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau Leaders of the Anti-Revolutionary Party Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Social and Economic Council MEPs for the Netherlands 1958–1979 Ministers of Agriculture of the Netherlands Ministers of General Affairs of the Netherlands Ministers of Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands Politicians from Haarlem People from Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude Prime Ministers of the Netherlands Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch politicians