Isabel Díaz Ayuso is not one of those who willingly bury the hatchet. She did not even do so on an occasion like that of today: the farewell appearance by Pablo Casado, the still-leader of Spain's Partido Popular (PP) who has been ousted and has agreed to go quietly, before the party's national management assembly. Behind closed doors, before the 450 party members present, the Community of Madrid regional president asked for the floor and denounced the fact that her own party has attacked her with more vehemence than it uses against the Spanish coalition government. In public, in statements to journalists, she went a step further and even called for the "expulsion" from the party of all those who participated in the "campaign" against her, without naming names.
In the meeting of the PP management assembly, in addition to Pablo Casado, anyone who asked for the floor could speak. Few did so, but Isabel Diaz Ayuso was among them. She put her finger right into the party's open wound: "If only Pedro Sánchez and other left-wing governments were investigated in as much depth as has been done with PP party members, with the Madrid government or with my own family." She added: "The Socialists, just the Spanish government on their own, squandered more than 300 million euros on defective purchases of medical supplies. Why do you think there are so many leaders in other regions who say nothing about all this?" The president of the Community of Madrid also said that "what was happening" in the party goes far beyond this, and that is why there are "many affiliates and leaders angry throughout the country, whose voices were silenced if they did not submit to control by fiat."
What she had denounced in private, she repeated in public. In a statement to the media after leaving the party assembly, the Madrid leader called for an investigation and "expulsion" from the PP of all those who were part of the "campaign" against her, because "she does not believe in falsely-closed wounds. " When asked for names, she avoided the question. However, Ayuso did say that she considered it "foolish" that a party could attack its own leaders in this way, when she had always been "loyal". She suggested to the PP that it had two options: did it want to be "the alternative to Sánchez" or, on the contrary, "to destroy ourselves as an organization."
Feijóo warms up in the wings
After the bitter showdown that took place 10 days ago which condemned the current leader to his fate, all the regional 'barons' of the PP, and even Pablo Casado himself, have now indicated Alberto Núñez Feijóo as the future leader of the party, as the person who must take the reins after the crisis. But the announcement of Feijóo's candidacy has still not be made. It won't be until tomorrow that he announces what he's doing. Before that, he wants to meet the PP management assembly in Galicia, a meeting that will take place tomorrow afternoon, to hear from party colleagues in his own stronghold. The president of Galicia's Xunta also took the opportunity today to ask for any other potential candidates to come forward, despite the fact that all eyes have been on him for days.
After today's meeting, Núñez Feijóo explained in Madrid that he had asked the secretary general of the Galician PP to call a meeting of the region's party management assembly in Santiago tomorrow afternoon to see "how we can help from Galicia in the face of the situation of the PP". And, after listening to his colleagues, he added, "I will speak to all Spaniards to tell them what my decision is." The Galician president asked for the party's internal procedures to be respected. And he also demanded that, if a colleague wants to stand for leader, he should do so; "now is your time", he said, "don't be afraid."