Esperanza Aguirre strikes again: Blames Rajoy for the birth of Vox, igniting a new war within the PP

It’s hard to believe, but every time Esperanza Aguirre speaks, the People’s Party (PP) quakes. The former undisputed leader of the PP in Madrid and ex-president of the region has once again decided to shake the party’s foundations with comments that have left no one unscathed. And this time, the spotlight isn’t just on her protégée, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, but is aimed directly at former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The civil war on Spain’s political right isn’t just continuing; it’s flaring up with unexpected ferocity.

“Rajoy led us to the brink”: the origins of the Vox tsunami

What Aguirre has let slip in recent hours is, to say the least, an earthquake. According to sources close to the former leader, her assessment is ruthless: the emergence and subsequent success of Vox wasn’t due to chance or the brilliance of its founders, but rather a power vacuum created, in her words, by the PP leadership under Mariano Rajoy. “If there hadn’t been a government that worked to erase the centre-right’s defining identity, someone else wouldn’t have had to occupy that space,” she’s essentially saying in political circles.

For her, Rajoy’s timidity during his years in La Moncloa was the perfect breeding ground. The feeling among many PP voters that “nothing was happening” in response to territorial challenges or handling of certain issues led a segment of the electorate to seek a more combative home. And this is where Esperanza Aguirre stirs the pot: without Rajoy’s management, Vox simply wouldn’t exist as we know it today. It’s a direct, no-holds-barred accusation that lays bare the internal rift that has never fully healed.

• Criticism of Rajoy: Aguirre accuses him of having “squandered” Aznar’s legacy and leaving right-wing voters feeling abandoned.
• The Ayuso effect: In the midst of this storm, the current Madrid president emerges stronger as the natural heir to that more combative spirit.
• Feijóo’s secret: The former president reveals that she could have been the “brake” on the current national leader, but chose a secondary role instead.

Loyalty (and the dagger) with Ayuso, and Feijóo’s complicated role

Amid this verbal offensive, Aguirre also wanted to clarify her position regarding Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Far from the rumours suggesting a cold distance, Aguirre insists her relationship with the current regional leader is one of complete complicity. But the most intriguing part came when she spoke about the national leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. According to what she’s confessed to those close to her, there was a moment when she herself could have become the main alternative to the current leadership, but decided against it, allowing Feijóo to consolidate his leadership without facing fierce internal competition. “I could have been the one in that position, but I chose a different path,” she essentially said, hinting that had it not been for that personal decision, the history of the post-Rajoy PP might have been very different.

These revelations aren’t innocent. They come at a time when the PP is trying to project unity ahead of upcoming election cycles. But Esperanza Aguirre’s shadow looms large, and her words carry the weight of someone who, for years, was the sole voice daring to challenge the inertia of the Rajoy era. For many, her analysis of Vox’s origins is a wake-up call. For others, it’s simply confirmation that the former leader remains the grand strategist, pulling strings from the sidelines to position her allies and set the agenda.

Resurrection or settling scores?

What is clear is that Spanish politics, and especially the centre-right space, cannot afford to ignore what Aguirre says. Her latest comments are not just a venting session, but a bitter assessment of what she sees as a historical mistake. By going after Rajoy, she’s not only vindicating her own career but also legitimising the radical shift represented by Ayuso and Vox as a necessary, almost organic, response to an era she considers a “betrayal” of core principles.

As Feijóo tries to navigate these turbulent waters, Esperanza Aguirre once again places herself at the centre of the storm, proving that her voice, even without an official post, remains one of the most reliable barometers for gauging the temperature of the PP’s internal war. The narrative is set: Rajoy created the conditions for the birth of a monster that is now eating away at votes on the right, and she, along with Ayuso, are the only ones who saw it clearly and fought back. The rest, as always, is history that will continue to be written with incendiary remarks.