Ask anyone in Flanders about Lambert, and they will tell you about his size. Until last year, Lambert was hugely overweight – hence the jokes. Add the trademark trendy green spectacles and the picture is complete. Last year, on his doctor’s advice, Lambert opted for a gastric ring. He lost weight spectacularly. Sadly, his weight loss has become a metaphor for his political career. There is not much left of Geert Lambert.

Last week, the promising Leuven city alderman Mohamed Ridouani quit the SLP for the socialists. And now, the SLP mainly consists of … Geert Lambert.

While most people know about Lambert, few can tell his party allegiance. He started out in the small nationalist Volksunie. After that fell apart, he followed former Flemish minister Bert Anciaux to Spirit, smaller still. Spirit hooked up with the socialist SP.A, which would eventually absorb it. Along the way, it changed names twice: first into Vlaamse Progressieven (which, abbreviated, made for the unpronounceable Vl.Pro), later into Sociaal Liberale Partij or SLP (often pronounced “slip” – Dutch for knickers).

Like Spirit before, SLP is a party that disturbs no-one. It is leftist, but not too much. It is greenish, but not excessively. Economically, it is liberal – in moderation. That makes for a party that appeals to many people – but not enough for them to vote for it.

SLP is often people’s second choice, which sums up its problem exactly. To make it in Flanders’ highly competitive party landscape, you have to become people’s first choice at some point. SLP never got there, scoring a measly one percent in the recent Flemish elections.

The Volksunie gave birth not just to Spirit, but to another minuscule party, with another chubby young man in the background. From the start, N-VA was openly nationalist and quite rigid. Compared to the trendy, sympathetic Spirit, it seemed hopelessly outdated at the time. Gradually, though, part of the electorate started to like this principled party and its outspoken president, Bart De Wever. It became their first choice. De Wever meanwhile grew into a leader of formidable stature. Luckily, he has a remarkable sense of humour, because his size, too, makes him the subject of plenty of jokes.