What is the leaked WhatsApp messages scandal embroiling Spain’s PM?

Leaked messages have revealed how Pedro Sánchez kept his MPs in line and referred to colleagues as “hypocrites” and a “disgrace”. The texts also go some way to explain his close ties to an ex-minister at the centre of an ongoing corruption scandal. The latest in Spain’s seemingly never-ending string of political scandals emerged recently, centred on leaked private WhatsApp messages from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in which he refers to colleagues as “hypocrites” and a “disgrace”. He calls his own Defence Minister Margarita Robles una pájara – an unflattering way to describe a cunning and unscrupulous woman – and accused Pablo Iglesias, his former Deputy Prime Minister and the then leader of far-left Podemos, of “stupidity” and described him as politically “clumsy”. The messages are also interesting in that they reveal just how close Sánchez was to José Luis Ábalos, former Transport Minister and number two in the Socialist Party (PSOE), and how depended on him as his political fixer. Ábalos has since left his post amid corruption allegations. Published in an exclusive by the right-leaning El Mundo over the weekend, the leaked messages reveal Sánchez unmasked. But is this story as big or as important as it’s been
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