The current leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, maintained for years a firm and reiterated defense of the integrity of former president Mariano Rajoy, especially in the most critical moments of the so-called Gürtel Case. Today, that press archive gains relevance in parallel to the declaration of the former President of the Government within the framework of the Kitchen Case, a separate piece that investigates an alleged parapolice operation to spy on the former treasurer of the PP.
On April 20, 2017, Feijóo left no room for doubt by stating that he had “the certainty” of Rajoy’s “absolute honesty,” also emphasizing that his judicial summons in the Gürtel case was solely as a witness. “We have to abide by those decisions,” he then pointed out, in reference to the appearance of the then President of the Government before the Audiencia Nacional.
A year later, on May 28, 2018, in the midst of a political earthquake after the Gürtel sentence that accredited the existence of a corruption plot linked to the PP, Feijóo recognized that the facts “should shame any politician” and considered it necessary “to apologize”. However, in that same context, he reaffirmed his support for Rajoy with a forceful phrase: he assured that he “would never” be “a Judas”.
Those statements occurred in the days prior to the motion of no confidence that would end up dislodging Rajoy from La Moncloa, after the ruling that pointed to the existence of a slush fund in the party. Despite the institutional and media wear and tear, Feijóo chose to close ranks with the then leader of the PP, reinforcing a discourse of internal loyalty.
The current context is different but equally delicate. Rajoy now testifies for the Kitchen case, which investigates the alleged use of resources from the Ministry of Interior during the PP Government to extract compromising information from the former treasurer Luis Bárcenas. Unlike Gürtel, where his role was as a witness, this case focuses on an alleged cover-up operation.
