NO HABLO INGLES

The PP’s leadership hopeful joins a long line of Spanish politicians with no English

LEADERSHIP hopeful Alberto Nunez Feijoo of the Popular Party (PP) made a candid confession on live television last week: with around 50 days to go until the snap general election called by adversary, Pedro Sanchez, he does not speak English.

Speaking on a talk show, he added that his linguistic problems were shared with ‘the majority of Spaniards’. Although he does, however, speak Galician as well as Castilian Spanish and as such described himself as ‘bilingual’. But Feijoo has also struggled with names in English, not just the language, recently mangling Bruce Springsteen’s name to call him ‘Bruce Sprinter’.

Prime Minister Sanchez will be a tough act to follow when it comes to the language of Shakespeare.

Sanchez speaks very good English, and during his five years in office has used it to great effect – whether in live interviews on US TV, or at international summits. But it turns out he is a real anomaly. In fact, Sanchez is the only prime minister since Spain returned to democracy able to fluently speak it while in office.

As for the other leaders and politicians, there have been a series of gaffes that have left them looking rather silly.

Former PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy famously sat

Londoner Nutter is a fabled snapper whose career spanned the golden era of rock and pop, working with luminaries such as Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Elton John and the Beatles themselves.

The ‘magical’ day of the wedding featured just a few close friends and family of the couple - Paul McCartney absent - and no press. Nutter snapped away as the couple, who were like lovebirds the minute they landed at Gibraltar airport, trooped over to the local registry office and got married, giddy and in high spirits. The pair then embarked onto their famous down for a meeting with his British counterpart David Cameron and uttered the classic line: “It’s very difficult todo esto…” Meanwhile

PP leader Jose Maria Aznar did his best to speak English while in office, but it wasn’t until he left politics that he really got the hang of it. (As a side note, he spoke Spanish in a Texan accent while in the United States in 2003, for reasons that were never fully clear).

But perhaps the most famous incident involving a Spanish politician and English was when Ana Botella, Aznar’s wife and the then-mayor of Madrid, gave her famous speech to the Olympic Committee when the city was bidding to be host. Her phrase: “There is nothing like a relaxing cup of cafe con leche in the Plaza Mayor” became an immediate hit, and remains something of a meme all these years later. For much of the Spanish political class, in particular the PP, it would appear that some serious study is still needed.