The future hope of the Partido Popular: once (and when, and if) the current leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo (who is as dull a politician as his name is unpronounceable) is defenestrated, is the attractive Madrid regional ruler Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
Ayuso is a popular and charismatic leader, the lucid spokesperson for the modern conservatives: the ‘pijos’ as they are sometimes known in Spain.
She has a modest tattoo on her forearm to honour Depeche Mode. So one can safely add ‘groovy’ to her manifest allure.
Ayuso’s popularity took a hit following the pandemic and her order to leave those who were in the region’s old people’s homes – or residencias – to stay put and not be transferred to hospitals if they caught the Covid. ‘They would have died anyway’ she said callously the other day. Some 7,921 old people died in their residencias (alone, without receiving medical attention), and maybe 4,000 of them could have been saved.
Last summer, Ayuso and her boyfriend moved into a luxury one million euro apartment in the tony area of Chamberí and – if we can believe elDiario.es – also into the upstairs roof apartment, giving her and her fellow 380sqm to wander around in. The apartment belongs to her boyfriend, who bought it loan-free, and the upstairs apartment belongs to a company controlled by the boyfriend’s lawyer.
The boyfriend is Alberto González Amador, who earned two million euros in commissions during the pandemic and has since attracted the attention of Hacienda for neglecting to pay his taxes – claimed to stand at some 350,000€. In fact, González Amador had recognised the debt and had offered through his lawyer to pay the outstanding amount ‘plus any fines’ back in February, to avoid any larger punishment.
The original story of the boyfriend’s misdoings and his protection by his chorba (Madrid slang: girlfriend), who also happens to be the regional president, first appeared in elDiario.es a week or two ago. Since then, other news-sources have either fanned the flames, or done their best to put them out – depending on their political stance and the amount of money pledged to them in institutional advertising over the past few months (that’s 27 million euros for the Madrid regional for 2024). An example being Eduardo Inda, the director of OKDiario, who sings for his supper with his headline: ‘What they have done with Ayuso and her boyfriend shows that the Government is a mafia and Sánchez its boss’. With video (for those who can’t read). Hacienda was evidently working to pull down the wrong tax-avoider, indeed.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Ayuso’s chief of staff, quickly responded to the scandal by opening a WhatsApp conversation with a journalist at elDiario.es and threatening to both sue and close them down:
“We are going to crush you. You're going to have to close. Idiots. Fuck you.”
“Is that a threat?” the journalist asked.
“It's a fact,” Rodríguez responded. (Google translation, not mine)
Elsewhere, we read that elDiario.es claims 1.5 million daily readers. They’ll be surprised.
How will this all affect Ayuso? Will she remain as the likely future candidate for the leadership of the PP? Not only Núñez Feijóo but the Vox leader Santiago Abascal must be watching all the goings-on – and trying to keep a straight face.
No comments:
Post a Comment