Dutch PM spills coffee in Parliament, mops it up while cleaners cheer him on

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte became the center of attention in social media last week, June 4 — and for good reason — when he was captured cleaning up after his mess, after he spilled his cup of coffee inside the Dutch Parliament.

The video has since made the rounds on various platforms, particularly Twitter, with a whole mix of personalities and netizens sharing the clip of the the Prime Minister.

Cees Van Beek, a diplomat at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Turkey, shared the video on his Twitter page, writing, “Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte dropped his coffee cup today in Parliament, then cleaned up the mess himself under loud cheers of the Parliament’s cleaners.”

In the video, Rutte can be seen walking in the premises of the Dutch Parliament while carrying a cup of coffee in his hand. Rutte apparently accidentally dropped the cup while trying to walk through the entry gates. Rutte then picks up the cup from the floor before taking a mop from one of the employees inside the building.

He smiled and laughed as he mopped, with a group of cleaners walking toward him to happily cheer him on. The Prime Minister was a trooper as he made sure he got every last drop, even bending down to wipe the floor and the sides of the entry gates with a rag.

The video went viral, with many Twitter users showing admiration for Rutte. Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mumbai-based conglomerate Mahindra Group, was one of them, taking to his Twitter account last June 6 to express his respect for Rutte.

“Apparently this is the Dutch PM cleaning up his own coffee spill…” Mahindra wrote. “I bow low to you Sir. And a great symbolic message on #WorldEnvironmentDay2018. We messed up this planet… let’s clean up our own mess.”

Journalist Ameer Abbas also showed his respect for the Prime Minster, writing, “True democracy, true leadership, no luxuriousness, no circle of sycophants and apple-polishers, no protocol, true public servant not ruler, simple & humble style of politics.”

“Dutch PM Rutte accidentally spilled his coffee and then did not hesitate to clean up the mess himself,” Abbas added.

Meanwhile, some were skeptical, such as one commenter Emir Tanrikulu (@Emir_Tanrikulu) who replied to Van Beek’s tweet of the video last June 4, saying, “If they’re recording, it’s surely PR.”

Van Beek, however, rebutted the netizen, telling him that the Prime Minister is “actually like that” in real life.

“I’ve seen him multiple times just biking around The The Hague,” Van Beek said. “He’s a nice and humble guy (whatever you may think of him politically).” Cody Cepeda/JB

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