New Spanish PM... Corbyn’s hard-Left pal Mr Handsome
SOCIALIST party leader Pedro Sanchez is set to become the new prime minister of Spain after a no-confidence vote in parliament unseated Mariano Rajoy’s weakened conservative government.
Mr Sanchez, leader of the largest opposition party, could be sworn in as early as today, with cabinet appointments taking place next week.
Photogenic Sanchez, 46, is known as ‘Mr Handsome’ in Spain and is a close ally of British labour leader Jeremy corbyn. Just last month he was pictured meeting the labour leader and shadow Foreign Secretary Emily thornberry in london.
to prevent a power vacuum after a no-confidence motion, Spanish law makes the motion’s author the country’s new leader as soon as the king swears him in.
the end of Mr Rajoy’s sixyear reign as PM was the first removal of a serving leader by the parliament in Madrid in four decades of democracy.
Mr Rajoy shook hands with Mr Sanchez after the result was announced.
the reputation of Mr Rajoy’s Popular Party was badly damaged by a court verdict last week which identified it as a beneficiary of a large kickbacks- forcontracts scheme.
Mr Sanchez seized his opportunity and managed to muster enough support from smaller parties to send him to la Moncloa palace, the seat of government in Madrid.
the 46-year- old takes the helm of the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone as the European Union faces numerous challenges, including Britain’s departure from the bloc and migrants continuing to enter the continent from North africa.
Mr Sanchez and his party are staunch supporters of the EU and the continent’s shared currency.
the Madrid stock exchange index rose nearly 1.6 per cent after he won the vote.
Mr Sanchez, who will be Spain’s seventh prime minister since the country’s return to democracy in the 1970s, arrives in power after a spectacular turnaround in his political fortunes.
He was ousted by his own party’s heavyweights in 2016 over back-to-back losses in general elections and after he failed to block Mr Rajoy’s bid to form a government.
the former economics professor regained the Socialist party leadership last year.