• Congress. Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo and Pablo Iglesias face to face: The "son of a terrorist" against the "lady marquise"

In the national leadership of the PP there is widespread discontent over the latest controversy starring the spokesperson for the Popular Parliamentary Group . Cayetana Álvarez de Toled called Pablo Iglesias' father a "terrorist", raising a huge media storm that overshadowed Pablo Casado's strategy to corner the Interior Minister in Congress . Five popular deputies , in addition to the opposition chief himself and his number two , Teodoro García Egea, had harassed and weakened Fernando Grande-Marlaska on account of the Civil Guard crisis, but the verbal brawl between Álvarez de Toledo and the Second Vice President stole the spotlight from them, they complain.

The next day, when Casado had managed to meet with the 10 main associations of the Civil Guard to show himself as a real "alternative" to Marlaska's "attacks", Álvarez de Toledo not only reaffirmed his words, but was even more blunt : "A person who is a member of a terrorist organization is a terrorist."

The discomfort on the part of the PP leaders is not so much due to the content of Álvarez de Toledo's speech, but to the scant opportunity of his words, since he "turned the focus" to where the party leader did not want. "The strategy of the party who marks the brand is Married, and wants it to be a unique strategy: it must respect it," they point out in Genoa.

She is privately accused by different voices of the party leadership and the parliamentary group of exercising a very marked individualism and not submitting to 'discipline'. "Let's think about the project, as a whole, what we can do," says a leader from the Casado environment. In fact, this controversy has been but the ultimate consequence of an erosion that has been occurring in recent weeks. The clashes between the leadership of the Parliamentary Group and that of the party have been buzzing at a higher temperature since Casado appointed Ana Pastor as spokesperson for the Commission for Reconstruction , and not Álvarez de Toledo.

A deputy from his environment reveals that Álvarez de Toledo "has been on the point of taking off two or three times", in the sense that he has expressed a remarkable satiety that even made him doubt its continuity. «Someday he was pissed off, at what he considers attacks by Genoa and said this is not my war, I am leaving. But he has a great commitment to his people and to his signings, "he adds. Nor has Genoa "ever" considered its cessation. There is no debate there.

The PP spokeswoman in the Lower House did not want to comment on her version for that information, but a source from her environment stops: «Cayetana is not leaving; it is not in that idea ", but in that of remaining" the same, resisting "the" friendly fire ". "She feels constantly attacked," but "she is not going to block Genoa," says one of the same sources. "Firstly, because she is an individualist: a single cry," explains another close deputy. And secondly, because he will never "confront" those of the argument. In other words, the hard core of the national headquarters, where they leave a calculated sentence: "Your support here is Married."

The increase in latent tension is due to the loss of power of Álvarez de Toledo in the PP, as a result of the coronavirus crisis, since Casado has opted to surround himself with more veteran profiles and "managers". This is the case of former ministers Ana Pastor and Elvira Rodríguez , as well as former magistrate Enrique López or the deputy secretary and former mayor Cuca Gamarra , who has gained prominence during the pandemic. At the same time, Álvarez de Toledo has further spaced his appearances before the press and has chosen topics from his own agenda for the Plenary.

The "leap" was the appointment of Pastor to the new parliamentary commission. However, it should be noted that Álvarez de Toledo herself encouraged the deputies, in a meeting of the groups of the Congress and the Senate , to support Pastor, because "he is going to do a great job". This is indicated by sources present at the meeting.

In Genoa they assure that in a crisis like this, both health and economic, managerial profiles must be strengthened, and that Pastor's was "undoubtedly" the best for the job. Just as Gamarra - whom they see as a future spokesperson - has gained visibility from the Health Commission . "Cayetana's lack of prominence is due to the fact that circumstances have come like this," says another leader. "And we cannot be entangled in minor issues as if she takes the focus off of Married with also minor issues," he adds.

«Let the game be shared? That is that the president and the secretary general [García Egea] are doing their job well, "summarizes one of the Genoa heavyweights - in the anonymity that the popular people require to speak without hindrance about the tectonic movements of their own party.

In public, the one who has raised the voice with the greatest force against Álvarez de Toledo has been the president of the Xunta de Galicia , Alberto Núñez Feijóo. "Enough of this kind of parliamentary spectacle," he said Friday. For the baron, moral leader of a moderate wing of the PP, it is "a serious mistake" that the opposition falls "in the provocations" of the Government and "also loses the papers".

In fact, PP sources assure that the Galician baron is upset that Álvarez de Toledo's speech could harm him in the face of the July regional elections. "No comrade from my party should enter the lure of the government to twitch," he ruffled.

The Mayor of Madrid , José Luis Martínez-Almeida, was also involved in the controversy, to temper the spirits. He asked that no one cover up Marlaska's "lies".

On the other side, former Prime Minister José María Aznar has come to the defense of the PP spokesman in Congress through an editorial comment on his foundation, Faes , of which Álvarez de Toledo is patron.

"I never go into family matters"

The controversy that has occurred after Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo called Pablo Iglesias' father a "terrorist" has an edge that has hardly been discussed. And it is that those words contravene one of the commandments that Pablo Casado takes more gala: "I never enter into family affairs." The PP president always prides himself on not referring to the intimate sphere of his rivals: neither the Galapagar chalet of Iglesias and Irene Montero, nor the cases of coronavirus that were treated in La Moncloa, nor the work of the wife of the Prime Minister, put as an example in the PP. "Sometimes he has been 'unfaithful'", Casado said to one of his collaborators, as a complaint to these controversies.

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Know more

  • PP
  • Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo
  • Pablo Casado
  • Teodoro García Egea
  • Civil Guard
  • José María Aznar
  • Ana Pastor
  • Pablo Iglesias
  • Senate
  • Madrid
  • Irene Montero
  • Fernando Grande-Marlaska
  • Alberto Núñez Feijoo

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