Aguirre dismisses Granados as Madrid PP secretary general

Madrid regional premier Esperanza Aguirre of the Popular Party (PP) made the surprise decision on Wednesday afternoon to dismiss Francisco Granados as the PP's secretary general in the capital.

Aguirre, who announced the dismissal just half an hour before a conference of Madrileño party members was due to begin, said she had taken the step because of her "lack of trust" in Granados.

Regional vice-premier and Aguirre's right-hand-man, Ignacio González, will take over Granados' position, she said.

The move shores up Aguirre's power in the regional PP just a little over two months before the PP's next national convention where the party leader and prime minister-elect, Mariano Rajoy, could maneuver to curb her power. Unease remains in Rajoy's camp over previous attempts to rebel by the Madrid premier. In the summer of 2008, Aguirre tried to challenge Rajoy for the PP leadership, months before a party convention in Valencia.

Granados' fall from grace became clear after the regional and local elections in May. Aguirre left him without a portfolio, offering him the position of PP spokesman in the Madrid Assembly, which he rejected.

Granados, who until then had been second regional vice-premier and had headed up the regional premier's office, justice and interior departments, had been fighting a fierce internal battle with González for control of the regional government.

In the meantime, a case of alleged spying on PP politicians in Madrid had exploded with both their camps had been blamed.

Files relating to Granados' assets and alleged activities started to leak out and dossiers about trips and the alleged following of González on a visit to Colombia also appeared. González suggested that the reports had their origins in the Madrid regional government itself.

Regional PP sources justified Granados' dismissal as giving new impetus to the party.

"The elections are won," they said. "The party has to be given a new boost. We are a few months away from the PP national and regional conventions and now the decision has been made to prepare for that."

Along with Granados' dismissal, Aguirre reinforced her position by naming another close aide, Javier Fernández Lasquetty, as joint vice-secretary general, a post he will share with the deputy Gádor Ongil.