THE HAGUE, 13/03/10 - Labour (PvdA) leader Wouter Bos has unexpectedly resigned. Job Cohen will succeed him.

Bos announced his resignation totally unexpectedly on Friday. He wants to have more time for his family in the coming years. He is no longer available for any political function.

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen is succeeding Bos. Cohen will become the PvdA's front-runner for the general elections on 9 June. Should the party win the elections, Cohen is virtually certain to be the next premier.

The decision by Bos came as such a surprise that even within his party, practically nobody knew about it. Last-minute speculation about some drama occurring within his private life was quickly crushed when Bos said he simply wanted to see his young children grow up.

Bos said he reached his decision in the weekend before the local elections on 3 March. He made a remarkably relaxed impression in TV debates on 1 and 2 March. The PvdA's losses in the local elections were smaller than expected, and his position was not under question.

Bos had still been saying with conviction in the previous weeks that he would stay on as PvdA front-runner. He also said he would like to become premier. In previous elections, Bos had expressed doubts about such an ambition.

Bos will stay on until 25 April, when a party congress will be held. He says he does not yet have any specific plans for the future.

Following a career at Shell, Bos entered politics as a somewhat timid 35-year-old in 1998. He became Finance State Secretary in 2000.

In November 2002, after 'old politics' had lost heavily to maverick Pim Fortuyn, the youngster mounted the throne left behind by ousted PvdA leader Ad Melkert, who left politics as well as the country following the party's dramatic defeat in the May 2002 general elections. Bos turned out to be a favourite with the press, which helped the PvdA to make a remarkable comeback in subsequent elections.

As party leader, Bos however did not prove the idealistic helmsman that many media wanted to make of him. He often appeared - particularly in the most recent years - to involve himself little with his MPs, who as a result fought out internal disputes in the media frequently. Perhaps he should not have combined the party leadership with his position as finance minister.

As finance minister Bos showed clearly more leadership and skill. He won praise from all quarters for his rescue actions in the financial sector, including the nationalisation of ABN Amro. His declining popularity revived at the depths of the credit crisis, helping the PvdA position in the polls only briefly though.

Since last month's collapse of the government the polls have picked up again for the PvdA. Bos refused to extend the Dutch mission in Uruzgan, causing a breach with the Christian democrats (CDA).