The CDA loyalists were a group of relatively progressive members of the Dutch

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

for the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands. Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical ...

(CDA) who were skeptical of the

first Van Agt cabinet The first Van Agt cabinet, also called the Van Agt–Wiegel cabinet, was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch Government from 19 December 1977 until 11 September 1981. The cabinet was formed by ...

(1977–1981), which comprised the CDA and the conservative liberal

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

(CDA). At the end of the 1977 cabinet formation, which had started with unsuccessful negotiations between CDA and the socialist Labour Party (PvdA), they voted against the coalition agreement between the VVD and the CDA. Although they voted against the agreement, they were willing to loyally support the cabinet, hence the name. These loyalists had an influential position during the cabinet period, because the cabinet only had a majority of 77 out of 150 seats including them. On issues such as income policy, nuclear energy, nuclear armament, and policies related to the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

regime in South Africa, the cabinet would have to negotiate with the loyalists. At times, some loyalists voted against the Van Agt cabinet. Nevertheless, it never resulted in a cabinet crisis and the cabinet was able to complete its term.

Members

The original loyalists were Bouke Beumer,

Hans de Boer Hans Andries de Boer (born 30 May 1937) is a former Dutch politician of the defunct Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and trade association executive. Life De Boer attended a Lyceum in Vels ...

, Jan van Houwelingen,

Stef Dijkman Stef is a given name or nickname, and a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include: People with the name Given name or nickname * Stef Bos (born 1961), Dutch singer * Stef Blok (born 1964), Dutch politician, Minister for Housin ...

and CDA parliamentary leader

Wim Aantjes Willem "Wim" Aantjes (; 16 January 1923 – 22 October 2015) was a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). A jurist by occupation, Aantjes was elected to the House of Representatives on 26 May 1959 after the general election ...

, because they had voted against the agreement within their parliamentary group meeting on 29 November 1977. On 5 December 1977,

Willem de Kwaadsteniet Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, ...

also joined the group during the formation. Informally, the term also referred to members who joined the House later:

Marten Beinema Marten Beinema (26 November 1932 - 20 August 2008) was a Dutch politician of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and its successor the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). Beinema was a member of the municipal council of Middelburg from 1971 to 197 ...

Fred Borgman Freddie "Fred" Borgman (16 December 1946 – 11 May 1996) was a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal. He served as a Member of the House of Representatives between 1978 until 1990 when he became Mayor of Nijkerk, serving from 1 ...

Henk Couprie Henk is a Dutch male given name, originally a short form of Hendrik. It influenced " Hank" which is used in English-speaking countries (mainly in the US) as a form of "Henry". Academics *Henk Aertsen (born 1943), Dutch Anglo-Saxon linguist *He ...

and

Jan Buikema Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

. The CDA was officially still a federation of

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party (, KVP) was a Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands, Catholic Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as ...

(KVP), the

Anti-Revolutionary Party The Anti-Revolutionary Party (, 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 minister who served as Prime Mi ...

(ARP) and the

Christian Historical Union The Christian Historical Union (, CHU) was a Protestant Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CHU is one of the predecessors of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), into which it merged in September 1980. History 187 ...

(CHU). Other than Dijkman, all came from the more progressive ARP.

Members

References

Further reading