Esperanza Aguirre Resigns

It's just been announced this evening that Esperanza Aguirre has resigned as President of the regional government of Madrid. Amazingly, she is abandoning political life completely and intends to enter a cloistered convent in the next few weeks. "It's the corruption and the nastiness of political life that I just can't take any more" she is reported as saying. "That, and having to spy on my colleagues all of the time". She attributes the discovery of her religious vocation to her miraculous escape from the Taj hotel in Bombay when it was attacked by terrorists last year. "I felt a hand lift me from that place and the next thing I knew I was on a plane flying home. I had been called, nobody else got that treatment did they?". Aguirre has said that she now intends to dedicate the rest of her life to "silent contemplation".


The first political reactions are already in. Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy has said how sorry he will be to lose her, and that he will happily accompany her to the door of the convent and even hold it open until she is completely inside. "Now we can get on with dealing with the problems that really affect the Spanish people" said Mariano. Her colleagues at the regional government headquarters in Madrid's Puerta del Sol are already said to have divided up anything of value in Espe's office between their friends and families. At least one Madrid based blogger is said to be completely distraught at the news. "Now what will I write about?", he wailed.