Within his party, Vandenbroucke formed a seemingly unbeatable team with Steve Stevaert, Johan Vande Lanotte and Patrick Janssens. This was new to him, as Vandenbroucke has always managed to alienate the people close to him. As party president, the ascetic ways he introduced enervated his older colleagues. He was also known as the professor, forever lecturing about what he thinks is right for this country.

Still, at the time of the “Teletubbies”, as the four were known, his party learned how to live with Vandenbroucke. Even Stevaert, who publicly abhorred intellectuals, tolerated him. And in spite of his often unpopular messages and leftist points of view, Vandenbroucke became popular with the public at large, who appreciated his ministerial style.

At the end of the Teletubbies era, Vandenbroucke was the last one standing of his generation. He became a pillar of the socialist party in the Flemish government, where he formed a sort of partnership with minister-president Kris Peeters (CD&V). Within his party, though, he became more and more isolated as he stubbornly went his own way, regardless of party strategy. In the end, sp.a pushed him aside after the 2009 elections, leaving him without a portfolio.

Vandenbroucke kept quiet for some months, licking his wounds and refusing to comment on the bitter episode. Now he is back, in his own typical manner: with a solid essay on the future of the welfare state.

As per usual, this contains some inconvenient truths. Safeguarding the welfare state will require huge budgetary efforts from which the middle classes will not be spared, Vandenbroucke says. He proposes to start by making the subsidised service cheques, which pay for small domestic services, more expensive.

The sp.a, still Vandenbroucke’s party, feels uncomfortable about all of this. It is annoyed, once again, by his timing, drawing attention away from the party’s pension plan. Still, sp.a will have to find a way of living with Frank Vandenbroucke, for he has obviously started yet another new life.