Education
Leiden University.
Leiden University.
Van der Staaij was born in Vlaardingen, a city in the province of South Holland. His father was a civil servant in the municipality Maartensdijk. He went to two Reformed primary schools in Vlaardingen (1974-1979) and Geldermalsen (1979–1980) and to a Reformed secondary school in Amersfoort (1980–1986).
He studied law at Leiden University, specialising in constitutional and administrative law.
After several jobs in the Council of State of the Netherlands, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998. He was leading his party ("lijsttrekker") in the general election of 2010 and of 2012.
He has been an Member of Parliament since 19 May 1998 and focuses on matters of judiciary, home affairs, Kingdom relations, foreign policy, the European Union, development aid, the Dutch defense, public health, welfare, sports, immigration and political asylum. He has also been Party leader since 27 March 2010 and Parliamentary group leader in the House of Representatives since 10 May 2010. Van der Staaij was attracted to politics and became a member of the Reformed Political Party in 1986.
In 2010 he has become party leader as well as Parliamentary leader in both cases succeeding Bas van der Vlies.
