Online vitriol could undo decades of political progress, warns Dutch deputy PM

Sigrid Kaag is latest high-profile female politician to quit, citing years of ‘hate, intimidation and threats’

Nearly two years after Sigrid Kaag was catapulted into the highest ranks of Dutch politics, police keep a constant watch over her home. Cameras sweep across the back of the property while every piece of mail sent to her is screened before she can open it.

“Most people would still have the tendency to say, ‘Oh well, this is part and parcel of politics,’” said Kaag, the first deputy prime minister of the Netherlands. “I don’t accept that.”