Former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is now the secretary general of NATO after a handover ceremony at alliance headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. Rutte, who succeeded Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg, thanked NATO allies for trusting him with the leadership role. “It is a big job, and I have big shoes to fill,” he said. NATO’s 32 members appointed Rutte during the summer after the Dutch politician secured the early backing of the United States, Germany, and Britain despite his record of low defence spending in government. Rutte takes over at a challenging time for the Western defence alliance, f…