Madrid’s anti-lockdown mayor under fire over husband’s PPE deals

‘He is a private citizen who is being beseiged by the entire power of a state because he is my partner’

ISABEL DÍAZ AYUSO, Madrid’s popular firebrand president, claims Spain’s prime minister is trying to destroy her reputation after her partner was accused of tax evasion.

The public prosecutor suspects Alberto González of evading tax worth more than £300,000 made as a fixer on sales of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the Covid pandemic.

Ms Díaz Ayuso has not been personally accused of any wrongdoing, but critics have said she should offer explanations because she lives with Mr González in a Madrid apartment worth at least €1 million (£855,000) that he bought in 2022, one of the tax years under investigation.

The 45-year-old is derided as a “Trumpista” by her critics but remains loved as “St Isabel” in Madrid for making the region one of the first in Spain to leave lockdown.

Since then, she has moved to cut taxes, while acting as a thorn in the side of Pedro Sánchez, the socialist prime minister, and some members of her own centre-right PP.

Ms Díaz Ayuso accused Mr Sánchez, who has demanded her resignation, of using the institutions of the state against her partner.

“He is a private citizen who is being besieged by the entire power of a state because he is my partner,” Ms Díaz Ayuso said.

She said Mr Sánchez was trying to distract attention from “the most corrupt law in the democratic era”.

Miguel Tellado, the chief PP spokesman, described the leaking of Mr González’s conflict with the tax office as a “witch hunt” against Ms Díaz Ayuso.