Den Uyl cabinet

The Den Uyl cabinet (11 May 1973 - 19 December 1977) was a Dutch left-wing cabinet under prime minister Joop den Uyl, comprising ministers from PvdA, PPR, D66, KVP and ARP. The last two parties were actually moderately right-wing, but enough left-wing elements within these parties supported the Den Uyl cabinet to create a left-wing majority. During the formation of the coalition, 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.

The cabinet was confronted with many problems: the oil crisis, the terrorist attacks by Moluccans seeking independence from Indonesia, the Lockheed affair (bribes accepted by the queen's husband) and the closing of the abortion clinic Bloemenhove. 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 Menten, where deputy Prime Minister Dries van Agt was ridiculed (so believed Van Agt) by some party members of Prime Minister Den Uyl.