Den Uyl cabinet

After the 1972 general election the Labour Party (PvdA) of Joop den Uyl was the winner of the election, winning four new seats and having now a total of 43 seats. Prior to the election the PvdA had formed a political alliance with the progressive Christian Political Party of Radicals and the social liberal Democrats 66, but this alliance failed to achieve a majority in the House of Representatives. After lengthy negotiations the Christian democratic Catholic People's Party (KVP) and Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) agreed to start talks about joining the coalition. During the formation negotiations between the parties were difficult because of disputes between uncompromising left-wing radicals and the moderate factions of the left-wing parties and the left-wing Christians. In the end both the KVP and the ARP joined the cabinet. ==Term==

The Den Uyl cabinet was confronted with many problems, starting with the 1973 oil crisis following Dutch support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Prime Minister Joop den Uyl said in a speech on national television that "things would never return to the way they were" and implemented fuel rationing and a ban on Sunday driving. Domestically the cabinet had several major conflicts, including the terrorist attacks by Moluccans seeking independence from Indonesia, the Lockheed affair (bribes accepted by the prince consort) and the closing of the Bloemenhove abortion clinic. Many plans could not be implemented because of these problems. The cabinet fell because of a disagreement over land development plans. A deeper cause was the left-wing distrust of the Christian ministers, especially in the case of war criminal Pieter Menten, where Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Dries van Agt was ridiculed (so Van Agt believed) by some party members of Prime Minister Joop den Uyl. Changes On 1 November 1973, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Tiemen Brouwer (KVP) resigned for reasons of health; shortly after he took office, he suffered a brain haemorrhage. That same day State Secretary of Finance Fons van der Stee (KVP) was installed as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. On 21 December 1973, Martin van Rooijen (KVP), who until then had been working as the head of the fiscal tax department for Royal Dutch Shell, was appointed as State Secretary of Finance. On 1 March 1974, State Secretary of Defence Joep Mommersteeg (KVP) resigned because of health problems. On 11 March 1974, brigadier general Cees van Lent (KVP), who until then had been working as Chief of the Personnel Department of the Royal Netherlands Army, was installed as his successor. On 27 May 1975, State Secretary of Justice Jan Glastra van Loon (D'66) resigned due to a conflict with top officials at the Ministry of Defence after criticising the department's leadership in an interview. On 6 June 1975, former Utrecht Alderman Henk Zeevalking (D'66) was appointed his successor. On 1 September 1975, State Secretary of Education and Sciences Antoon Veerman (ARP) resigned because of health reasons. That same day, Klaas de Jong Ozn. (ARP), who until then had been working as rector of the Christian school in Amersfoort, was installed as his successor. On 1 January 1977, Minister of Defence Henk Vredeling (PvdA) resigned after he was appointed as European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs. That same day, State Secretary for Defence Bram Stemerdink (PvdA) was appointed as his successor. On 1 May 1977, State Secretary of the Interior Wim Polak (PvdA) resigned after he was appointed Mayor of Amsterdam; because the cabinet was already demissionary he was not replaced. On 8 September 1977, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Dries van Agt (KVP) resigned because of the dualism of the constitutional convention in the States General of the Netherlands after he was elected to the House of Representatives. Minister of the Interior Gaius de Gaay Fortman (ARP) took over both positions until the new cabinet was installed on 19 December 1977. For the same reason, on 8 September 1977 State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (D'66), State Secretary of Justice Henk Zeevalking (D'66), State Secretary of Economic Affairs Ted Hazekamp (KVP), State Secretary of Education and Sciences Ger Klein (PvdA), State Secretaries for Housing and Spatial Planning Jan Schaefer (PvdA) and Marcel van Dam (PvdA) and State Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Social Work Wim Meijer (PvdA) also resigned. Olof Palme at the Ministry of General Affairs on 12 September 1974 Willy Brandt at a Party of European Socialists conference in the Hague on 1 November 1974 Helmut Schmidt and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at the Catshuis on 2 November 1974 Henck Arron and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at the Catshuis on 25 June 1975 Yigal Allon and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at the Ministry of General Affairs on 10 November 1975 Leo Tindemans and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at a Benelux conference in The Hague on 23 March 1976 Henry Kissinger and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at the Catshuis on 11 August 1976 François Mitterrand and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at the Catshuis on 28 September 1976 Piotr Jaroszewicz and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at Ypenburg Airport on 14 March 1977 Adolfo Suárez and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl at the Catshuis on 29 August 1977 Oliver Tambo, ANC Treasurer-General Thomas Nkobi and Minister Jan Pronk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 5 October 1977 ==Composition==

Ministers State secretaries ==See also==