A cabinet formation took place after the second De Geer cabinet, the Dutch government-in-exile resigned on 26 August 1940. The cabinet had resigned after queen Wilhelmina had requested the resignation of prime minister Dirk Jan de Geer. The queen Wilhelmina subsequently insisted on Pieter Gerbrandy as formateur and new prime minister. After refusing twice, Gerbrandy felt compelled to accept the assignment on 28 August. On 3 September, the first Gerbrandy cabinet took office, differing from the previous cabinet only by the absence of De Geer.
The final straw was when she learned in August 1940 that De Geer wanted to go on vacation in Switzerland.[a] She also realised the other ministers would not turn on De Geer.[3] The Dutch Constitution limits the actions of the queen; she may only act if ministers are willing to take responsibility for those actions. She sought advice from Vice-President of the Council of StateFrans Beelaerts van Blokland, and minister Eelco van Kleffens and Pieter Gerbrandy. Van Kleffens and Gerbrandy believed she was permitted to act in this case. Beelaerts' advice is not known, but according to historian Lou de Jong, it was undoubtedly also positive.[4]
On 23 August, the queen asked De Geer to resign. When De Geer inquired whether she meant as prime minister or as minister of Finance, she indicated she wanted to think about it further. That same day, the Council of Ministers discussed the request. Everyone except Gerbrandy agreed to visit the queen to ask that De Geer be retained as minister of finance to prevent unrest among the population. The following day, ministers Van Kleffens, Willem Albarda, and Charles Welter visited the queen. On 25 August, the queen informed De Geer that she did not want him to remain as either prime minister or minister of Finance. In response, the entire cabinet tendered their resignation the next day.[5]
On the same day the resignation was tendered, the queen received Gerbrandy and asked him to become formateur and prime minister. She set three conditions: minister Jan van den Tempel (PvdA) had to return to the cabinet, the cabinet had to commit to preparing for the material help of the Netherlands after liberation as a government task, and the cabinet had to resign after liberation. Gerbrandy, it later turned out, had no objection to these conditions but still declined the request. He pointed to Van Kleffens, who had also been recommended by Beelaerts, but the queen rejected this suggestion. At the end of the meeting, Gerbrandy promised to consider the matter further.[6]
The next day, Gerbrandy spoke with ministers Hendrik van Boeijen, Adriaan Dijxhoorn, Van Kleffens, Max Steenberghe, and Welter. The request was not received enthusiastically. Gerbrandy asked Van Kleffens if he would take on the role, but he declined. In the evening, Gerbrandy asked the queen to withdraw her request, but she continued to urge him insistently. Gerbrandy then spoke again with Steenberghe, Van Boeijen, and Welter. By this time, they considered refusing the assignment unacceptable, which also convinced Gerbrandy. On 28 August, he ultimately accepted the task of forming a cabinet as formateur.[7]
Gerbrandy visited De Geer to inform him about his new assignment. De Geer assumed Gerbrandy was offering him a position in the cabinet, but Gerbrandy made it clear that he did not intend to do so. Gerbrandy first asked Gerrit Bolkestein to stay on, followed by the rest of the cabinet. The Finance portfolio was assigned to Welter and General Affairs to Van Boeijen. By 30 August, Gerbrandy had finalised his cabinet, but the announcement was postponed until after Queen's Day on 31 August.[8]
On 1 September, Gerbrandy formulated the cabinet programme, which included the conditions of the queen. On 2 September, Gerbrandy informed the queen that the formation had been successful.[9] The following day, De Geer was granted his resignation, and the first Gerbrandy cabinet officially took office.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
