Shortly after the election, incumbent leader of the Labour Party Joop den Uyl announced he was stepping down and endorsed Kok as his successor taking office on 21 July 1986.

In December 2001, Kok announced he was stepping down as party leader and that he would not stand for the 2002 general election or serve another term as prime minister.

During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for several major social reforms, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and euthanasia, and further reducing the deficit.

Kok was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 11 April 2003 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 80.

This led to a policy of tax reduction, economizing, and trying to keep people out of social care by supporting employment; large infrastructure projects were set in motion.

In addition, according to one study, “A law concerning the modernization of the universities administrative structure replaced the democratized structure of the 1970s with a more autocratic system, inspired by the management style of business concerns.” Although primary education received some extra money, which made it possible to introduce computers and decrease the average number of pupils in 4 years, the latter resulted in a shortage of classrooms and teachers.

[19] As noted by one study, “For people with a minimum social benefit and children, purchasing power decreased in the first three years of the cabinet's term of office.

During the whole cabinet period their purchasing power increased with a meagre two-tenths of a per cent per annum, due to an increase oftwo per cent in the election year (cpb 1998: 22,168–177).” Under pressure from the churches and other groupings, however, “the cabinet placed the problem of poverty on the policy agenda.” Some support was given to financially vulnerable groups, with compensations in the individual rent subsidy for households with children and an income at the level of the social minimum, measures for those elderly with only a general old age pension or a small additional pension, and a higher extra allowance for the first child.

In addition, before the elections of 1998 “the decreased purchasing power was repaired with 850 million guilders, mainly for people on social benefit.”[20] Despite its cuts and changes to welfare and education, a number of progressive measures were introduced during the Kok cabinet's time in office.

[21] In terms of residential care, a personal budget was introduced in 1995 to meet various individual needs; offering a choice “between care in kind, or cash payments that could also be used to purchasing services from private and market sector.”[22] Employment protection was also maintained while past plans to reduce it were “shelved,” income tax for the lower paid was cut, and 40,000 jobs in the public sector for the long-term unemployed were created.

According to one report “The personal contribution for a wheelchair has been cancelled and for the other facilities in kind it remains limited to f 100.”[25] Under a circular from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment dated 6 June 1996 (BZ/UK/96/2613), municipalities “have been given the option of allocating municipal income support benefits categorically (the effect of this circular has been extended by the letter of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment of 30 May 2000, no.

BZ/IW/00/34933A).” An amendment to the General Assistance Act (Abw) 'in connection with the prevention and combating of poverty and social exclusion' (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 193 of 2 May 1997) “has ensured that from 1 July 1997 municipalities can also provide categorical special assistance in addition to individual special assistance.”[26] The government also attempted to support child care through the Stimulation of Child Care Act (1996), which made childcare provisions “a shared responsibility between the government, the employer and the working parent.”[27] From 1996, municipalities “have been able to appeal to a new subsidy option to provide childcare to single parents on social assistance, who are following schooling or who accept part-time or full-time work.” In 1996 some 525 municipalities applied for this subsidy.

[32] From 1997 the TOG act on ‘allowance for cost of maintenance of multiple and severely physically handicapped children’ “offers a financial support to parents who look after their severely handicapped children (3 till 18 years) at their home.”[33] In January 1998, national Disability Insurance was abolished, but a new scheme called Wajong was introduced.

[34] In addition, An Act of 24 April 1997 provided for “a new insurance to protect self-employed workers and their spouses in case of long-term disability.”[35] An Act of 11 September 1997 provided for “new regulations that concern persons who are under the age of 65, suffer from physical or mental disabilities and can therefore only work full-time in jobs which are especially suited for them.” It also provided that each community ("gemeente") “has the responsibility to provide as many employment opportunities as possible to persons who are considered able to work only in jobs tailored to their needs or capacities.”[36] From July 1997 onwards,[37] “the residents of care homes no longer pay individually for the viewing and listening fee.”[38] The Temporary Income Provision Former In-land Navigation Entrepreneurs Act of 1997 sought “to rectify a lack of income support for entrepreneurs who have become incapable of continuing their work for reasons of old-age or disability.

It was also known as the "second purple cabinet" called such because it contained both the social democratic PvdA (red) and the liberal VVD (blue).

In May 1999, D66 stepped out of the coalition when proposed legislation on referendums, entered by this party, was blocked; through negotiations the crisis was solved and the cabinet stayed together.

Moreover, allegations of expenses abuse were made against Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Bram Peper from the time he was mayor of Rotterdam.

Under this Act, “as a student you may be entitled to a loan or gift from the government.”[50] Under the Working Hours Act of 2000 part-time workers were granted an explicit right to equal treatment in all areas negotiated by the social partners, such as second tier pensions, holiday pay, subsidized care provision, training and education, basic social security, and wages.

This legislation brought together various existing and new leave provisions and sought to facilitate the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities.

On 16 April 2002, close to the natural end of term for the cabinet, prime minister Kok wished to resign early after being harshly criticised in a government-commissioned report by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies regarding the fall of Srebrenica in 1995[58] and the other ministers had no choice but to follow him.

During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for implementing several social reforms, legalizing same-sex marriage and euthanasia,[58] stimulating the economy resulting in more employment and privatization and further reducing the deficit.

[58] After his premiership, Kok retired from active politics at the age of sixty-three and became a lobbyist for the European Union and presided over several "high-level groups".

He also occupied numerous seats on supervisory boards in the business and industry world (ING Group, Koninklijke TNT Post, Royal Dutch Shell, KLM, Stork B.V., International Commission on Missing Persons, International Crisis Group, Anne Frank Foundation and served as president of the Club of Madrid from 2009 until December 2013).