The radio host that came in from the cold.

Jimenez Losantos is known throughout Spain as the bishops' star host in COPE radio. Known for his ultra right wing stances and bitter attacks on the left and anyone on the right that's not a hawk, it was no surprise that in 2006 he took on PP's Mayor of Madrid for his 'soft' positions in his radio show. Unfortunately for him, the Mayor, sued him for insults and defamation against his person.

Rajoy removed the Mayor out of the Congressional lists for the election, as I reported here a while ago, forced by the hardliners within PP, many close to Losantos, himself an influential figure in rigt wing circles in Spain. That was seen as a sign of weakness by Rajoy but he wasn't ready for the bombshell that follows...

Losantos has called Aguirre, President of the region of Madrid, Acebes, Secretary General of PP and Zaplana, official spokesperson for PP, to declare against Gallardon, the Mayor of Madrid, in court! Rajoy has fallen in his own dithering trap. He has let this nutter run freely for the sake of winning an election and now Losantos has got him into serious trouble. If these senior PP officials don't testify against Gallardon, Losantos will certainly retaliate, if they do they will be testifying against a member of their own party, and one proud of its internal cohesion as well.

How's Rajoy going to get out of this one? certainly not looking good. Hopefully they'll testify before election day...

Losantos's statement on air against Gallardon:

'The Mayor of Madrid doesn't want to know who kills people by the hundreds in his own city'

- Gallardon was Mayor at the time of the 2004 Madrid bombings, Losantos is the greatest exponent of the 'conspiracy theory' that blames Basque terrorism instead of Al-Qaeda for the massacre although the courts have ruled that it was Al-Qaeda alone that carried out the attacks.

She could be your mayor.

Ruiz Gallardon has announced that he might leave politics after the May 9 election. It seems he hasn't taken very well the lies, backstabbing and betrayals of his own party colleagues (look at the previous post).

This blog announced a couple of weeks ago that if Gallardon was to resign, horror! Ana Botella, Aznar's wife, would be the next Mayor of Madrid as the current Deputy Mayor. Today, we have one more reason to fear her arrival to the chair of command in the capital's town hall. She has blamed Madrid's smog crisis in the last few days on some kind of 'dust' coming from the Sahara!

Madrid has been suffering a massive smog crisis in the last few days with the town hall advising not to practice outdoor sports and encouraging the use of public transport. Ana Botella, responsible for the mayoral environment portfolio, has denied the need to cut down traffic in the city or look into pollution levels. She instead has blamed the situation on the intrusion of an African hot wind. Most probably the opening of the new M-30 ring road and the unending construction projects going on in the capital have nothing to do with it. Hold on a minute! actually the do, because what has gone up is nitrogen dioxide, produced by cars not 'African dust'. It has gone up 12 times since Saturday over the 220 micrograms maximum levels which aren't supposed to be reached more than 18 times in a year!

That is what PP can offer us, incompetent mayors, incompetent potential mayors and backstabbing presidential candidates. As that Labour poster used to read in 2001, be scared be very scared!

Rajoy's explanation goes up in smoke.

Before excluding Ruiz Gallardon from the party's congressional lists, Rajoy and PP officials used two preemptive arguments to protect themselves from attacks on such an irrational decision. Firstly, they said that mayors cannot be included in lists under internal party rules. Secondly, that Ruiz Gallardon could not go on the lists because mayors that did go on the lists had to be on the very top. Those were Rajoy's arguments to protect himself from accusations that PP was going centrist just for electoral purposes and they would come back to extremism after March 9.

Well, it seems that internal party rules can have exceptions, specifically 11 exceptions. And not all of them go as top candidates in provincial lists. Up to six of them are not at the very top, more than those that actually do, five.

Anyone still believes PP is genuinely gone moderate or it is just a wolf on sheep clothing? Also how can we trust a man to be President who stabs his own allies in the back to appease the most reactionary members of his right-wing establishment?

PP's internal crisis: the inside story.

After yesterday's incredible announcement by Rajoy that Gallardon won't be joining him in the Madrid list to Congress, today Arsenio Escolar has published in his blog an insider's story about what really happen. It seems the revolt was bigger than it actually looked yesterday.

According to Escolar:

At 5 pm yesterday Gallardon's name was included in the Congressional list as number 5 or 6. Rajoy wasn't sure yet because he didn't know if Zaplana was going to be head of list in Valencia, he was President there from 1995 to 2002, or if not he would have to be number 5 in Madrid.

Around 6 pm Francisco Camps, current President of Valencia and Zaplana's archienemy, spoke to Rajoy and threatened to resign if Zaplana became head of the list in Valencia. Camps' idea was to resign as President to be able to run for a Congressional seat himself. Rajoy gave up to Camps' pressure and accepted to include Zaplana in the list in Madrid. So by 6 pm Zaplana was number 5 and Gallardon number 6 in Madrid's list and Camps remained as President of Valencia.

But the key moment arrived at 7 pm, Aguirre, President of Madrid, found out on her way back from Malaga, most probably from the man himself, about Camp's victory over Rajoy. She went straight into Genova HQ to put a challenge of her own. With Gallardon present, Aguirre threatened Rajoy to resign as President of Madrid and run for Congress if Gallardon was included in the Madrid list. Rajoy once again gave up and removed Gallardon's name from the list.

After Rajoy's display of weakness, some allies of Gallardon started leaking to the press that the Mayor of Madrid had threatened to resign after the March 9 election if he wasn't included in the party's list. Rajoy today has been trying to regain his authority within the party. He's been pressuring Gallardon last night and this morning not to announce his departure from politics as the media was reporting. But it seems he's lost all authority, Gallardon has announced this morning in a press conference that after the March 9 election he will reflect on past events and take a decission on his political future.

So what looked as a terrible enough story about Rajoy's lack of authority has become an INMENSE story about Rajoy's lack of authority. Moreover, it says how little regard PP elected officials have for the offices they hold that are willing to use them as weapons to advance their political career in Madrid. But the most worrying development of it all I have just found out is that if Gallardon resigns as Mayor of Madrid, his successor will be Ana Botella, Aznar's own wife! who currently is Deputy Mayor. After all I'm not even sure if I want him to resign now...

Gallardon saw it coming.

Have a look at this video. Gallardon clearly upset about the designation of Manuel Pizarro, Aznar loyalist and former CEO of Endesa, as number 2 in the PP's Madrid list for Congress after Rajoy. He laughs and jokes around until Rajoy announces it, then his face simply freezes and after the meeting storms out without making any comments to the press.

Also the right wing press is saying that Aguirre threatened to resign as President of the Region of Madrid if Gallardon was made a candidate for a Congressional seat.

Rajoy loses his authority.

It's now official, Rajoy has given up to PP hardliners' pressure and decided not to include Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, Mayor of Madrid, in the list to Congress from Madrid.

As it's been mentioned many times in this blog, key party figures have started positioning themselves for a potential leadership contest within PP in case Rajoy loses the general election. Aguirre, President of the region of Madrid, and Gallardon, Mayor of the city, have been named as the strongest candidates, specially after Rodrigo Rato's departure to the private sector.

Gallardon, seen as a moderate with a cross-party appeal, have failed to promote himself within the party's structure contrlled by the hardliners, Aguirre among them, loyal to former President Aznar. Rajoy's inability to impose his wish of including Gallardon is a massive blow to his long and tortuous walk to the centre. In such a hierarchical party as PP, there are no primary elections or internal democracy of any kind, the leader is in control of all key decissions. This authoritarian model was best reflected in Aznar's personal election of Rajoy as his succesor in 2004 that the party ratified with 99% of the vote a month later. The hardliners ability to impose a decission on Rajoy, who has included Gallardon in his Monday 'maitines' executive meeting (the most important committee within PP, formed by Rajoy and his most trusted advisors), clearly debilitates his figure after a month of a strong presence of PP's leader in the news cycle and an increase of 0.4% in his popularity with the electorate.

With this surrender by Rajoy, Aguirre is a step closer to win the leadership in March if Rajoy loses. She already tightly controls the party in Madrid. It will be interesting to see what happens now in the run up to the election. If Rajoy cannot hold the party together and keep the chance of victory alive, key officials could start thinking about the leadership contest even before the campaign was over. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see what the electorate's reaction to this development will be. Gallardon is by far the most popular PP official with the electorate, however his allies within the party are very few.

Finally, it's also worrying how the likes of COPE radio, the Church's radio station, and other hardline media outlets have increased their influence within PP. Jimenez Losantos, COPE's star presenter, has publicly strongly criticised Gallardon for his moderation and openly opposed his incorporation to the party's list in Madrid.

The war within PP: Madrid.

Rajoy has declared today that it could be possible for a mayor to be candidate for Congress in March according to his party's Constitution. He gave this answer to a question by a journalist asking about the possibility of Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, mayor of Madrid, being his number 2 in the list for Madrid in the March election.

With this comment Rajoy has for the second time this year contradicted one of his own party officials. Ignacio Gonzalez, Esperanza Aguirre's right-hand man in Madrid, claimed this Sunday in El Mundo that it is incompatible to hold both positions under PP internal rules. Several months ago it was Angel Acebes, Secretary General of PP, who stated a similar position.

As this blog has been commenting for a while now there is an internal struggle within PP to position key candidates to the succession of Rajoy in case he loses the general election in March. Esperanza Aguirre, President of the region of Madrid, who controls the party in the capital, has been trying for months to block the possiblity of Ruiz Gallardon entering the national lists for Congress. Aguirre cannot become a Congresswoman while President of Madrid, Spanish law doesn't permit this possibility, so she's trying to block Gallardon from doing so. The reason for this is that it's expected that the leader of the main oppossition party must be a member of Congress to be able to debate the President in the chamber. She could be a Senator under the law but the Senate attracts substantially less media attention which would make a leadership challenge from there much more difficult. Aguirre has got the hardliners within PP on her side, Acebes positioning months ago is a clear example, Gallardon on the other side got the more moderate wing of the party.

Rajoy, is seriously considering having Gallardon as his number 2 for Madrid in March, PP strategists consider that this move would put a face of moderation in PP's lists to appeal to centrist voters. But Aguirre isn't going to let it be without putting up a fight within the party in Madrid, her own powerhouse. Under PP's Constitution, the party list for Madrid has to be approved first by Madrid's Regional Electoral Committee, which funnily enough is chaired by Ignacio Gonzalez. Rajoy and Gallardon have a tremendous battle ahead to bypass that roadblock organised by Aguirre and the party's hardliners. Furthermore, Rajoy has already distanced himself from Acebes and Zaplana. If they feel left behind in the eventuality of a leadership contest they will openly align with Aguirre against Rajoy and Gallardon and the battle could then turn out to be really nasty.

Rajoy, already a lame duck?

What do Rodrigo Rato, former economics Minister and IMF President, Esperanza Aguirre, former Senate leader and President of Madrid, and Ruiz Gallardon, Mayor of Madrid, have in common? Well... all are aiming to replace Rajoy as leader in March.

The public image of PP is that of unity and loyalty to the leader, reminiscent of past and present authoritarian organisations of the kind of the Chinese Communist Pary or Stalinist Russia. However internal realities are quite the opposite. Josep Pique (former leader of PP in Catalonia and Foreign Minister with Aznar), Joaquin Calomarde (independent Congressman after defecting from PP) and even Ruiz Gallardon have criticised Rajoy indirectly by criticising the lack of drive and modern outlook of the party. Many inside PP are concerned that even though the kind of discourse practiced by PP during this term has been its most aggresive ever, Rajoy has not been able to take a single lead in the polls since 2004.
The lack of trust in Rajoy's leadership is so evident that potential succesors have already started positioning themselves for a future leadership contest. Rodrigo Rato, one of the most valued members of Aznar's Cabinet, left the IMF Presidency earlier than his term deadline and refused to join Rajoy's candidate list in Madrid. Many believe his idea is to avoid the potentially disastrous 2008 campaign and become the party's saviour in 2012.
However the greates contest for the leadership is happening in Madrid. The Mayor of the city, Ruiz Gallardon, and the President of the Region of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, are clashing on a daily basis positioning their allies in the electoral lists as well as key centres of power in case of a contest.

The latest battlefront according to El Pais newspaper is IFEMA, the convention centre of Madrid and the most profitable exhibition centre in Europe. It all started as Luis Eduardo Cortes was succesfully elected to the role of Executive Director of the public company, a position newly created that takes away competences from Fermin Lucas, Director General of IFEMA and until now the person effectively running the company. It happens that Cortes is a former regional legislator from PP under Aguirre and Lucas the former Secretary General of PP's Parliamentary Group in the Regional Assembly when Gallardon was President before Aguirre. If one notes that IFEMA bring up to 1% of Madrid's total GDP then the public company becomes a key battlefield for influence in the political capital of the country. Aguirre's allies success in placing Cortes in IFEMA has forced Gallardon's threat to recuse Cortes unless he steps down from other boards of directors he is member of.

The battle has not yet started for Rajoy's succession, but the battle lines have been drawn by the party heavyweights. Rajoy was a lame duck leader since he blew up a 2,402,426 majority taking his party from an absolute majority government to the opposition; but he is now also a lame duck candidate for a party already thinking about 2012.