Rita Verdonk

Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk (born 18 October 1955) is a Dutch politician and businesswoman formerly affiliated with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and later Proud of the Netherlands (TON), which she founded in 2007.

Since 2022, she has been a municipal councillor of The Hague, elected on the list led by Richard de Mos.

Maria Cornelia Frederika Verdonk was born on 18 October 1955 in Utrecht.

She attended High School at Utrecht's Niels Stensen College at the atheneum level.

She went on to study sociology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, which at the time was considered left-wing, and specialized in the sociology of organisations and criminology.

Verdonk was member of a sub-faculty board of the university and a member of the activist group Bond voor Wetsovertreders (BWO; English: Union for Lawbreakers) which had close ties with the far-left Pacifist Socialist Party.

Verdonk attended a Gymnasium in Utrecht from June 1968 until June 1974 and applied at the Radboud University Nijmegen in June 1974 majoring in Law before switching to Criminology and obtaining a Bachelor of Criminal Justice degree in July 1979 before graduating with a Master of Criminal Justice degree in July 1983.

Its 1977 manifesto included as the organisation's aims: "to curb and/or prevent material damage and immaterial damage inflicted to individuals or groups in our society by the Dutch legal system".

The BWO campaigned for reforms such as detainee minimum wages, the abolition of censorship of letters for detainees, and the right to unsupervised visits.

The group visited inmates at a local prison and undertook legal interventions on their behalf.

Verdonk participated in a non-violent human blockade during the Pierson riots of 1981, when plans for housing demolition to make room for a parking lot triggered violent civil unrest.

Because of her activism during this period, she earned the nickname "Red Rita."

Verdonk worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Justice from September 1983 until October 1996 and as director of the department of State Security of the Domestic Security Service (BVD) from October 1996 until November 1999.

After graduating in 1983, Verdonk became a trainee at the Department of Correction at the Ministry of Justice.

In 1984, she was promoted to Assistant-Director at the Scheveningen Detention Centre.

In 1988, she became a member of the board of the Prison 'De Schie' in Rotterdam.

In 1992, she switched to the Ministry of Justice's department of Youth and Hospital Orders Institutions, where she reached the position of vice-director.

In 1996, she was appointed as Director of the Department of State Security of the Ministry of Interior Affairs.

Verdonk worked as a management consultant for KPMG and Atos from November 1999 until May 2003.

Between 1999 and 2003 she was Senior Manager / Director of the consulting firm KPMG (as of 2002, Atos KPMG Consulting).

In 2002 she became a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) to become more active in politics.

After the political murders of politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and film director Theo van Gogh in 2004, the Dutch Ministry of Interior Affairs began to monitor Verdonk's security tightly for her own protection.

After the election of 2003 Verdonk was appointed as Minister for Integration and Asylum Affairs in the Cabinet Balkenende II, taking office on 27 May 2003.

In 2003, Verdonk was appointed Minister for Integration and Immigration.

She soon developed a reputation for toughness and outspokenness, with her uncompromising immigration policies earning her the nickname IJzeren Rita (Iron Rita).

As a minister, Verdonk enjoyed a rare level of recognition and popularity amongst voters, but was also reviled by many as a populist with an impulsive style of governing.

In June 2004 Verdonk was smeared with ketchup by two females protestors in opposition to her stance on immigration as part of a "playful protest", for which they got 11 days of prisontime.

After the Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Parliamentary leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives Jozias van Aartsen announced that he was stepping down as Leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives following the defeat in the municipal elections of 2006, Verdonk announced her candidacy to succeed him.

Verdonk lost the leadership election to incumbent State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science Mark Rutte on May 31, 2006.

The Cabinet Balkenende II fell on 30 June 2006 as a result of the Verdonk-Ayaan Hirsi Ali controversy.

Verdonk continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the cabinet was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III with Verdonk continuing as Minister for Integration and Asylum Affairs, taking office on 7 July 2006.

Verdonk served as acting Minister of Justice from 21 September 2006 until 22 September 2006 following the resignation of Piet Hein Donner.

Verdonk was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 2006, taking office on 30 November 2006.

In a 2006 article, some of Verdonk's friends and colleagues from her Nijmegen days expressed surprise at Verdonk's radical switch in political orientation after graduating in 1983.

Some observed that Verdonk had never held outspoken left-wing ideals and criticized communist regimes; others hypothesized that it was part of a growing-up phase; a former treasurer of the BWO suspected that Verdonk had been a police informer all those years.

The Cabinet Balkenende III was replaced by the Cabinet Balkenende IV following the cabinet formation of 2007 on 22 February 2007.

On 14 September 2007 Verdonk was expelled from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy parliamentary group in the House of Representatives following months of tensions with Leader and Parliamentary leader Mark Rutte and continued to serve in the House of Representatives as an Independent.

On 17 October 2007 she announced the founding of her own political party Proud of the Netherlands (Trots op Nederland) (Trots).

For the Dutch general election of 2010 Verdonk served as Lijsttrekker (top candidate) but Proud of the Netherlands did not win any seats in the House of Representatives and she continued to serve until the end of the parliamentary term on 17 June 2010.

Verdonk retired from active politics and became active in the private sector and public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards and worked as a political consultant and management consultant.