Diederik Samsom

Diederik Samsom
Samsom in July 2012
Leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives
In office 20 March 2012 – 12 December 2016
Preceded by	Job Cohen
Succeeded by	Attje Kuiken
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 20 March 2012 – 10 December 2016
Preceded by	Job Cohen
Succeeded by	Lodewijk Asscher
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 30 January 2003 – 14 December 2016
Personal details
Born	Diederik Maarten Samsom (1971-07-10) 10 July 1971 (age 52) Groningen, Netherlands
Political party	Labour Party
Spouse	Tineke (Divorced)
Children	2
Education	Delft University of Technology (ir.)
Dieder Samsom's voice Recorded September 2014

Diederik Maarten Samsom (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdidəˌrɪk ˈmaːrtən ˈsɑmsɔm] ^ⓘ; born 10 July 1971) is a Dutch environmentalist and retired politician who was the leader of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid PvdA) from 2012 to 2016. He was the first leader in the 70-year history of the PvdA to have been voted out of his position by party members. He later served as head of cabinet for First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans and his successor Wopke Hoekstra.

Elected to the House of Representatives between 30 January 2003 and 14 December 2016, he was elected PvdA parliamentary leader as well as party leader on 16 March 2012.^[1] He lost the Labour Party leadership election to Lodewijk Asscher in December 2016. Before his election to the House of Representatives he was CEO of a green energy company and a campaigner for Greenpeace Netherlands.