Teflon Mark Rutte the everyman PM who saw the tide had turned

He was the great survivor of Dutch politics, a man whose capacity to swerve criticism and survive scandal earned him the nickname "Teflon Mark", combining backroom skills with everyman appeal to become the country's longest-serving leader.

- Jon Henley

But Mark Rutte told MPs and reporters in The Hague on Monday he would not be standing in the next elections after his divided coalition government collapsed last Friday over asylum policy.

The decision brings to an end the 56-year-old's 17-year tenure as leader of the liberal-conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and 13 years as prime minister of the Netherlands.

As the EU's longest-serving government leader after Hungary's Viktor Orbán, his name has been floated for several jobs, including at Nato and the European Council.

However, Rutte said he harboured no such ambitions. He teaches social studies once a week at a high school in The Hague. "Maybe I'll do it a couple of times a week," he said.