Political work
Herben first became active in politics in 1993 when he founded the Leefbaar Linschoten party to help preserve an orchard in Linschoten. In 2002, he joined the newly established Livable Netherlands party where he met Pim Fortuyn and was included on the LN's list of candidates for the 2002 general election. [2] On 20 February 2002, ten days after Livable Netherlands had dismissed Fortuyn as leader, Herben contacted Fortuyn again who at the time was setting up the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party and switched his candidacy to the LPF's list. [3]
Following the assassination of Fortuyn in May 2002, the LPF elected him as its new leader after the party turned out in force in the parliamentary elections. [4] From May 2002 he sat as a member of LPF's parliamentary party in the House of Representatives of the Staten-Generaal. In the House of Representatives, Herben dealt with general affairs, defense matters, international security and aviation. He was also vice-chairman of the standing House Committee for Defense. In 2004, Herben served as the fraction leader as well as the chairman of the LPF. In the elections held on 22 January 2003 he was the lead candidate of the party. Between March and May 2002 he was spokesman of the Lijst Pim Fortuyn and from May 2002 until October 2004 chairman of this party. In November 2006, he retired as a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands.
In parliament, Herben campaigned against female genital mutilation, and in accordance to Fortuyn's policy, called for the practice to be banned. In November 2003 Prime Minister Balkenende and Minister of Justice Piet Hein Donner called for a limit on the number of satires about the Dutch royal family. [5] During the debate on the matter, Herben put on a red clown nose before speaking at the interruption microphone in parliament to ask whether this would violate the proposed rules. Balkenende then complimented him on his nose. [6] One of his last activities in parliament involved campaigning to limit the influence of the European Union on Dutch regulations. In November 2006 Herben submitted a private member's bill to end all EU influence together on Dutch domestic regulation with Reformed Political Party politician Kees van der Staaij, but when the LPF lost all representation in parliament during the 2006 Dutch general election, Van der Staaij took on this defense. In June 2009 the vote in the House of Representatives was postponed, but in September 2015 the House of Representatives approved this. The treatment in the Senate was then halted for two years. On 9 April 2019, the Senate rejected this proposal, after thirteen years.
Between 2005 and 2009, Herben returned to journalism as an author for STA-VAST, the magazine of the Dutch right-wing conservative organization Oud-Strijders Legioen.
In 2018, Herben made a small return to politics in which he was elected as a councilor for the Lokaal Montfoort party. He was re-elected for another term in 2022. [7]
