Well, he did. As people became weary of Verhoftstadt’s colourful bunch, they took to Leterme’s straightforwardness. He may not have had a great knowledge of viniculture or a Tuscan villa, but the public embraced him as an ordinary man, with a love for goats, his son’s amateur cycling career and – of course – numbers. In 2004, CD&V was back and ‘the bookkeeper’ became Flemish minister-president.

By then, journalists got to know a more ruthless Leterme, as he made a habit of texting them very early in the morning to point out “factual inaccuracies” in their articles. Leterme simply cannot stand errors in print, whether they are about his budget or the number of times Eddy Merckx has won some bike race.

Leterme definitely got his own numbers right when he forged a cartel between his own party and the N-VA, then hanging on for dear life. Together, they were strong enough to break the liberal-socialist majority and bring the ol’ Christian-democrats back to power. The cartel changed the French speakers’ perception of the man, who was raised perfectly bilingual: From then on, they considered him a radical, “a dangerous man”, in the words of vice-prime minister Laurette Onkelinx.

Leterme’s victory in 2007 should have been the start of a new era. Instead, his 800,000 votes (or rather 796,521, sorry Yves!) became a millstone around his neck. As the French speakers refused a deal on language matters, the fire that Leterme had breathed into life slowly consumed him. Maybe, some people said, Leterme was never made for the post of prime minister.

However, during the bank crisis, Leterme excelled. Ironically, the same crisis also lead to his resignation. He returned as prime minister in 2009, only to be faced with BHV again. In the 2010 election, he was defeated by N-VA, the “cuckoo’s young” he raised. As a caretaker prime minister since then, he did more than count the days. He gained everyone’s respect by keeping Belgium out of the international financial storm. This was the number cruncher at his best again.

So now he is off to a job at the OECD. May there be plenty of numbers involved!