A Strange Day In La Puerta Del Sol

Heartfelt apologies for writing yet another post so soon about events in Madrid's regional government. I'm sure you appreciate that I only do this in the public interest and it hasn't been a normal day even by the standards of Planet Aguirre. Today began with the news of the surprise reappearance of someone who already had his 15 minutes of fame back in 2003. Not that Eduardo Tamayo has been forgotten by everyone. He is after all the person who gave his name to the "Tamayazo", that murky defection from the PSOE that cleared the way for Esperanza Aguirre getting another chance to rule Madrid after falling short of an overall majority at the first attempt. No wonder the sun had disappeared again this morning after three glorious days that looked like spring.

It could well have been Tamayo himself, or someone close to him, who leaked the news to Público that he had a meeting arranged this morning with La Lideresa herself. With the journalists already gathered in La Puerta del Sol the man turned up for his meeting, only to be informed by those in charge of reception that Santa Espe was involved in other, more urgent, tasks. There is plenty of speculation about what is going on here, mostly focusing on whether Tamayo feels that his contribution to gifting power in Madrid to the PP has been sufficiently recognised; if you see what I mean. Tamayo has promised further revelations within the next few days, but it's hard not to be sceptical about whether anything of substance will emerge from this.

As if that wasn't enough for one day we got the news of the resignation of Juan José Güemes, who had been in charge of Espe's policy of transferring Madrid's public health service into private hands. Whilst leaving medical ethics to be decided by the priests. It's a curious move, Güemes is abandoning active politics for a post at a business school, although this is certainly something more suited to his abilities than ensuring the health of the region's citizens. It's just that it seemed that he still had years of wrecking public services ahead of him. Fortunately for those medical ethics committees, it is reported that his successor (Javier Fernández Lasquetty) is profoundly religious. Even the atheists pray for good health in Madrid.