Theo Upt Hiddema (born 1 April 1944) is a Dutch lawyer, media personality and politician who served as a member of the

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 ...

from 2017 to 2020. A former member of

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( ; FvD) is a far-right political party in the Netherlands, originally founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2015 before registering itself as a party the following year. The FvD first participated i ...

(FvD), which he left in 2022, he became a member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 2021 following the resignation of

Nicki Pouw-Verweij Nicki Janna Francisca Pouw-Verweij (born 21 May 1991) is a Dutch politician. She has served as member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives since March 2021. Pouw-Verweij studied medicine at the Vrije Universit ...

, holding a seat until 2023.

Early life

Theo Hiddema was born on 1 April 1944 in

Holwerd Holwert is a village in Noardeast-Fryslân municipality in the northern Netherlands, in the province of Friesland. It had a population of around 1,607 in January 2017. Before 2019, the village was part of the Dongeradeel municipality. The ferry ...

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

.Mr. Th.U. (Theo) Hiddema
(in Dutch), ''Parlement & Politiek''. Retrieved 25 December 2017.

Law

Hiddema was accepted to the bar on 10 July 1975 in Maastricht. After an internship with Max Moszkowicz in Maastricht, he founded his own practice in 1981. There are currently two offices, one in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and one in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

. Hiddema became known as a lawyer in several famous cases, one against Florentine Rost van Tonningen-Heubel, the widow of a Dutch national-socialist during World War II, and the case against the violent and criminal Venlo Gang.

Politics

In 2016, Hiddema joined

(FvD, Dutch: ''Forum voor Democratie''), and was officially allocated a spot high on the electoral roll, second only to the founder and leader of the party,

Thierry Baudet Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (; born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch politician, author, and self-declared Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), for which he has been a memb ...

. Since FvD managed to get enough electoral votes for two seats in the House of Representatives in the

2017 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to s ...

, Hiddema became a member of the House of Representatives. In November 2020 Hiddema resigned as member of parliament due to "personal circumstances", possibly related to controversies within the party during that time. In December 2020, Hiddema expressed his willingness to stand again as a candidate for the party in March. However, just over a week removed from his announcement, he changed his mind and said he wanted to be removed from the list due to the party's populist approach of opposing the government's coronavirus strategy. In April 2021, he became a FvD

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

. In March 2022, he defected from the FvD alongside Paul Frentrop in response to the FvD refusing to attend

Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

's address to the

Dutch House of Representatives The House of Representatives ( , literally "Second Chamber of the States General", or simply ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General of the Netherlands, States General, the other one ...

References

External links

Law Office Hiddema

Theo Hiddema
at the Senate website
Theo Hiddema
at the Forum for Democracy website {{DEFAULTSORT:Hiddema, Theo 1944 births 20th-century Dutch lawyers Dutch political commentators Forum for Democracy (Netherlands) politicians Living people Dutch MPs 2017–2021 People from Dongeradeel 21st-century Dutch lawyers Forum for Democracy MPs