Do we like them?Do we like Mark Rutte?
Our score: 6 out of 10. A solid record on LGBTQ+ rights, offset by a child-benefits blow-up on his watch, deleted texts and a very cosy act with Trump.
Mark Rutte is the Dutchman who ran the Netherlands for 14 years, from 2010 to 2024, and then walked straight into the top job at NATO. He led the centre-right VVD party and was famous for being a political survivor, riding out one crisis after another. That survival instinct is the key to understanding him.
His biggest domestic stain is the child-benefits affair, where thousands of Dutch families were wrongly pursued over benefit paperwork. Rutte met affected parents in January 2020 and apologised, reportedly shedding a tear. His cabinet resigned in January 2021, though he stayed on as caretaker and was widely criticised for saying he had no direct responsibility.
Then came 'Nokiagate' in 2022, when it emerged he had been routinely deleting text messages from an old phone. He gave different explanations, first storage space and then a slow phone, and opposition parties wanted more digging. He survived the no-confidence vote, as he usually does.
On the harm check, the LGBTQ+ side is his strongest suit. In 2021 he told Viktor Orban that if Hungary didn't share EU values it should consider leaving, after Budapest passed its anti-LGBTQ law. Later that year he wrote to parliament saying the Dutch heir to the throne could marry a same-sex partner and keep the crown.
The other side of the ledger is his habit of sucking up to Trump. At the 2025 NATO summit he likened Trump to a 'daddy' who sometimes uses strong language, and EU officials reportedly cringed. In January 2026 he told MEPs that Trump's role was very important to NATO, and he told sceptics that Europe could not defend itself without US help. That is strategy for his job, but plenty of people find it hard to watch.
On migration and Gaza the record is more contested. Rutte's 2017 campaign pitch, 'behave normally or go away', and the 2023 collapse of his coalition over migration policy sit uneasily with some, while his supporters call it ordinary centre-right politics. Advocacy groups have also criticised his handling of Gaza questions at NATO, but that is campaign material, not verified reporting, so we haven't leaned on it.