Rato Rides In....And Out Again.

For a brief moment yesterday supporters of Esperanza Aguirre maybe thought that their heroine was back on course in her bid to lead the Partido Popular. There she was in the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid, presenting yet another of these awful books about how Spanish liberals supposedly defeated Napoleon. The door to the room opened, and in walked Rodrigo Rato - the man who refused recently to meet PP leader Mariano Rajoy. What could this mean? Perhaps the emergence of the Dream Team of the hard right in the PP, with Rato throwing his (still considerable) influence behind Aguirre. Then the bubble burst. Rato said something along the lines of "Oh, this is not the room I'm looking for" and left in search of the other book presentation taking place in the same hotel.