Right-wing politician Isabel Díaz Ayuso has insulted the Socialist (PSOE) prime ministerial candidate Pedro Sánchez in Spain's investiture debate: "Hijo de puta" said Ayuso - which equates to "son of a bitch". That is how Ayuso, the People's Party (PP) leader of the Community of Madrid expressed herself from the guest seating in the Congress of Deputies when Sánchez replied to the leader of the opposition, the PP's Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and reminded him of a case of corruption in which she was implicated.
Specifically, Sánchez was talking about a "probable case of corruption on the part of the president of the Community of Madrid, Mrs Ayuso". "The party's response was immediate: the evacuation of [then PP leader] Casado in a rapid move and sweeping Mrs Ayuso's corruption case under the carpet," the acting PM continued. He was referring to the espionage case which turned the PP upside-down a year and half ago, when the party tried to obtain information on Tomás Ayuso, brother of Isabel, allegedly involved in a corrupt deal for purchases of Covid-19 face masks. It ended with Pablo Casado's resignation as party leader.
At the moment of Pedro Sánchez's explanation, the cameras in the Spanish Congress focused on the Madrid regional president and it was clearly seen that she was mouthing "hijo de puta" - literally "son of a whore" but equivalent to the English "son of a bitch".
Clearly, the tone of the debate was hostile on the part of the PP, with Feijóo accusing Sánchez of "political corruption". "The investiture took place in Waterloo", he told the PSOE candidate, a reference to the Belgian base of Carles Puigdemont, saying that the investiture was a "fraud". For his part, the Socialist reminded him that he did not have enough votes to win the investiture himself in September and that the party riddled by corruption is his own.
In this situation, Ayuso, in the upstairs seating, could not hold her tongue. However, media such as El País asked the Community of Madrid president's press team what she had said. Their answer left no one indifferent: "Me gusta la fruta", they explained - in English, that would be "I like fruit." Shortly after this ironic response, though, sources from Ayuso's team recognized the insult and held the Spanish PM responsible: "Mr Sánchez's accusation of corruption against president Díaz Ayuso is an ignominy and cowardice." Sources close to Ayuso's executive countered: "The president's response to an accusation of corruption without any evidence is the least he deserves. Tomorrow, in the Madrid Assembly, this gentleman who puts rapists, corrupt Andalusian socialists and Catalan coup plotters on the streets will have a response.".