“I’m not quitting because my security is an issue for me. But it is for them. I would like it for them if things would quieten down.”

On a Dutch television programme recently Kaag’s two daughters talked about their concerns for their mother because of threats made to her, causing the minister visible emotion when she was confronted with the recording.

In May, Kaag, 61, said the environment for politicians in the Netherlands had become “toxic”, as she and many of her colleagues were continuously threatened and often needed tight security.

Kaag’s decision to leave comes three days after long-serving prime minister Mark Rutte unexpectedly announced he would quit politics once a new government is formed.

Rutte handed in the resignation of his fourth coalition government on Friday after failing to reach an agreement on stricter immigration policies.

Foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra this week also said he would not run in the next elections, expected to be held in mid-November.

A veteran UN diplomat, Kaag entered Dutch politics in 2017 when she became foreign minister in Rutte’s third cabinet.

She led the pro-European Union, left-leaning Democrats 66 party to second place in the 2021 elections, behind Rutte’s conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.