The leader of Spain’s main opposition party is ousted

BELEAGUERED AND almost alone in his party’s headquarters, abandoned by its powerbrokers and most of its MPs, a bemused Pablo Casado this week suffered the implosion of his leadership of the People’s Party (PP), Spain’s mainstream conservative opposition. At a meeting that lasted into the early hours of February 24th, the party’s regional barons allowed him to save face by staying on as a figurehead until an emergency party congress on April 2nd. In return he agreed to back as his successor Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the experienced president of the region of Galicia who is the consensus choice. A smooth transition matters not just to the PP but to Spain. Vox, a newish hard-right outfit, is snapping at the PP’s heels in polls, largely because of Mr Casado’s ineffectual leadership.

Two things precipitated Mr Casado’s fall. The first was his decision to force an early regional election in Castilla and León. Far from a hoped-for absolute majority, the PP achieved only a pyrrhic victory; the big winner was Vox. Then Mr Casado rounded on Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of Madrid’s regional government and a former protégé-turned-rival. He and his abrasive deputy, Teodoro García Egea, accused Ms Ayuso of corruption over a €1.5m ($1.7m) contract for face masks early in the pandemic from which her brother earned €56,000. She said she was not...