If the unprecedently vociferous two-day debate on the government’s plans has shown anything, it is that new prime minister Dick Schoof is not only without a party but without support, the papers say.

“Never was a prime minister so alone as Dick Schoof”, the AD headlined. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Schoof had to cope with angry opposition parties demanding censure of PVV asylum minister Marjolein Faber for a tweet in which she called GroenLinks/PvdA MP Esmah Lahlah the “PvdA headscarf”. Meanwhile, an almost incandescent Geert Wilders demanded unquestioned loyalty to the new team. When that was not sufficiently forthcoming Wilders called his own prime minister “a spineless git”. The paper foresees “chaos and emotion”, including within the cabinet.

The Volkskrant calls the debate “an unprecedented start” for any prime minister. The paper saw a man “fighting to keep his authority intact”. When practically ordered by Wilders to say “No, there are no racists in this cabinet” Schoof told him he would “choose his own words”. But an incendiary tweet by his number two, Fleur Agema, about the headscarf issue was not removed despite a reprimand. “Thrown under a bus”, opposition leaders commented, including by his own cabinet. Neither Pieter Omtzigt nor Dilan Yesilgöz “lifted a finger in his defence” until much later, the paper said. But Schoof didn’t make things easier for himself by “not responding from the heart but reading his texts from paper”, VK commented.

“A shameful circus”, the Telegraaf headlined, and quoted SP leader Jimmy Dijk who asked if he had ended up in a “room full of rowdy toddlers”. “I would not have taken on the job if that was the case,” Schoof answered valiantly. However, the paper wrote, even Geert Wilders admitted the debate did not “win any prizes” while Omtzigt said “I don’t think we served the interests of the country today”.

This cabinet marks the beginning of a new phase in Dutch politics, exemplified by Wilders’ outraged response to PvdA leader Frans Timmermans: “How dare you call our people racist!” Commentator Bas Heijen drew this conclusion in the NRC. “The extreme right suddenly pretends to be completely depoliticised, solely there to get more healthcare staff and build more homes,” he wrote. “The PVV is being helped in that endeavour by a completely depoliticised prime minister as the figurehead of this government.”