Pedro Sánchez to continue as Spain’s PM despite ‘bullying’ campaign

Pedro Sánchez has decided to continue as Spain’s prime minister after spending five days reflecting on his future because of what he described as a “harassment and bullying operation” being waged against him and his wife by his political and media enemies.

The socialist prime minister shocked Spain last Wednesday when he shared a personal letter explaining that he was withdrawing from his public duties for a few days to weigh up whether or not he wanted to remain in office.

Sánchez posted his letter to social media hours after a Madrid court said it had opened a preliminary investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez, “for the alleged offence of influence peddling and corruption”.

The investigation followed a complaint from the pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), a self-styled trade union with far-right links that has a long history of using the courts to pursue those it deems to be acting against Spain’s democratic interests.

Manos Limpias has accused Gómez of using her influence as the wife of the prime minister to secure sponsors for a university master’s degree course that she ran. Prosecutors in Madrid have already asked the court to throw out the case for lack of evidence, but a judge will decide whether the investigation proceeds.

In a statement delivered after he went to see King Felipe on Monday morning, Sánchez said he had decided to carry on as prime minister despite the attacks he and his family had had to endure.

“In my letter I asked whether it was worth carrying on as Spain’s prime minister given all the abuse that my family has suffered over the past 10 years,” he said. “Today, after these days of reflection, the answer is clear to me.”

Sánchez said he and his wife had been greatly moved by the public response to his letter and by the rallies of support in Madrid over the weekend.

“It is thanks to this social mobilisation that has so decisively influenced my reflections – and of which I am once again grateful – that I want to let you know what I’ve decided,” he said. “As I told the head of state this very morning, I have decided to stay on as Spain’s prime minister and to stay on with even more strength than before – if that’s possible.”

He also called for an end to political and media attacks and to the culture of mud-slinging and slanderous rumours and lies that had permeated Spanish public life over the past few years.

“There’s only one way to turn this situation around – and that’s for the social majority to mobilise as it has over the past five days in favour of dignity and common sense, putting an end to the shameful politics we’ve endured for too long,” he said.

“Today, I’m asking Spanish society for us once again to set an example for a convulsed and wounded world because the evils that afflict us are far from exclusive to Spain. They are part of a global reactionary movement that wants to impose its retrograde agenda through defamation and falsehoods, through hatred and through stirring up fears and threats that have nothing to do with science or reason.”

In his four-page letter, Sánchez said the Manos Limpias complaint was untrue and was based on “alleged reporting” by news sites whose political leanings he described as “overtly rightwing and far-right”.

Sánchez accused his political opponents – chiefly Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the conservative People’s party (PP), and Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right Vox party – of “collaborating with a far-right digital galaxy and with Manos Limpias”.

Feijóo, who has accused Sánchez of navel-gazing, melodrama and failing to live up to his office, said the prime minister’s words and deeds were proof of the need for a change of government.

“Everything we’re living through is just the epilogue for a past that we’re going to overcome,” he said. “If the prime minister has no problem appearing ridiculous, he can go for it. But the fact that he’s dragging the rest of my country down that road shows that Spanish citizens don’t have a prime minister who’s up to the job.”

Abascal described the prime minister’s recent behaviour as shameful, cynical and dangerous.

“For the past five days, Spaniards have been subjected to a crude, shocking and victim-playing piece of theatre that has shamed us internationally,” he said.

“Sánchez’s decision to carry on is a reaffirmation of his coup against unity, against coexistence, against the rule of law, against the separation of powers, and against the freedom of the press.”

Despite the gravity of its allegations, Manos Limpias admitted on Thursday that its complaint against Gómez could be based on incorrect media reports, adding: “If they are not true then whoever published them should take responsibility. But if they are not untrue, we understand that the judicial investigation should continue.”

Meanwhile, the ultra-conservative, ultra-Catholic group Hazte Oír (Make Yourself Heard) lodged a new criminal complaint against Gómez for alleged influence-peddling on Thursday.

Sánchez has said his wife “will defend her honour and will cooperate with the justice system as much as is necessary to clear up facts that are as scandalous in appearance as they are nonexistent”.