Politics
Cospedal Folds, but Keeps her Chair
Audio recordings from María Dolores de Cospedal’s meeting with retired police superintendent José Manuel Villarejo in 2009 at the height of the Gürtel case were what forced Maria Dolores de Cospedal to take a step to one side yesterday, but just a small one. The day that her voice and that of her husband, Ignacio López del Hierro, appeared on the Moncloa.com website discussing conspiring against Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, and using his brother Alejandro as his “weak point”, Cospedal informed the leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, of her resignation as a member of the executive committee. She is not leaving politics behind entirely however: she retains her seat at congress and the presidency of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Casado states that Cospedal’s decision to resign is her own, and that memory of the case of the deceased Rita Barberá, who was forced to resign from the PP against her will, is still alive.