Comment: Spain’s political spy game

The whole affair blew up in the party’s face and could cost the PP at the next election

Politics is a dirty business and another political bombshell has rocked Spain. | Manuel Bruque

Humphrey CarterPalma19/02/2022 10:28

It appears that political parties never seem to learn and history continues to repeat itself. How many times have we watched political parties self-destruct and lose elections, not because the opposition is worthy of victory, simply because the ruling party has fallen to pieces and rampant infighting.

Such is the latest political scandal in Spain which has split the main centre right Partido Popular opposition party.

Rumblings of jealousy at the top of the party have been gathering momentum since before Christmas. Party leader Pablo Casado was starting to get seriously worried about his position and outside chance of becoming the next Spanish Prime Minister being stolen by the regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

And this week, the whole affair blew up in the party’s face and could cost the PP at the next election.

Ayuso has accused the leadership of her own party of waging a “cruel and unfair” campaign to destroy her with false corruption allegations amid reports the party tried to hire private detectives to investigate her family.

The furious scale of the PP infighting has gripped the nation. The satirical news site El Mundo Today tweeted: “Joe Biden to send troops to Génova (the PP headquarters) following the escalation of violence within the party,” and this political crisis may take longer to resolve than Ukraine.