Liberal Party
Which political party did Esperanza Aguirre belong to from 1984 to 1987?
Esperanza Aguirre Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma ( ; born 3 January 1952 ) is a Spanish politician . A member of the Peoples Party ( PP ) , she served as President of the Senate between 1999 and 2002 ( becoming the first female politician to have held the post ) , as President of the Community of Madrid between 2003 and 2012 and as Minister of Education and Culture ( 1996–1999 ) . She also chaired the Peoples Party of the Community of Madrid between 2004 and 2016 . Biography . Early life . Aguirre was born in Madrid on 3 January 1952 being the eldest daughter of José Luis Aguirre Borrell , a noted lawyer , and Piedad Gil de Biedma Vega de Seoane , the sister of the poet Jaime Gil de Biedma . She is also second cousin of the photographer Ouka Leele . She studied in the La Asunción School and in the British Council School of Madrid and earned a degree in Law at the Complutense University of Madrid in 1974 . Aside from Spanish , she is reportedly fluent in English and French , has basic notions of Italian and understands Catalan . In 1974 , Aguirre married Fernando Ramírez de Haro , 15th Count of Murillo , 16th Count of Bornos ( Grandee of Spain ) , whom with she has had two sons : Fernando ( born 1976 ) and Álvaro ( born 1980 ) . In 1976 Aguirre became a civil servant , as member of the Corps of Information of Tourisms Technicians . She was head of the Department of Publicity and Tourism , where she remained until 1979 . Subsequently , she had many different jobs in the Ministry of Culture , serving several Ministers during the Democratic Centre Union governments ; especially designated by the Prime Minister himself . In 1979 , she was chief of staff of the General Director of Literature and Cinematography . She was appointed Deputy General Director of Studies of the Technical General Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture in 1980 . In 1981 , she was appointed Deputy General Director in the Advisory Staff of the Secretary of State of Culture . Her last position with the Administration was as Deputy General Director of Cultural Associations . First spell in local politics . Since her early years Aguirre had been a member of the Club Liberal of Madrid , which was presided over by Pedro Schwartz . Schwartz reportedly played an important role in the beginnings of Aguirres political career : in 1983 , he was the one to convince her , by then a civil servant ; to stand as candidate in the Madrid local elections running in the list of the political alliance between Schwartzs Liberal Union , the Peoples Alliance and the Peoples Democratic Party . She was elected as became a municipal councillor . While in opposition , she was a member of the Standing Committee of the Madrid City Council , a CP spokeswoman on the areas of Culture , Education , Youth and Sports Affairs , and the Moncloa-Aravaca district . When the Liberal Union merged with the Liberal Party in December 1984 , she held different positions in the National Executive and the Political Council of José Antonio Segurados Liberal Party . In 1987 she left the Liberal Party and joined Popular Alliance , which later , in 1989 , was refounded as the Peoples Party ( PP ) . She was subsequently re-elected to the city council and continued in opposition until 1989 , when a successful vote of no confidence ousted the PSOE mayor Juan Barranco , which allowed the PP and Democratic and Social Centre ( CDS ) to govern Madrid for the first time since the restoration of competitive municipal elections in 1979 , under the Mayorship of Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún ( CDS ) . In the new local executive , she was designated head of the Department of the Environment . The PP won a council majority in the 1991 election and José María Álvarez del Manzano was subsequently invested as new mayor , with Aguirre remaining in the municipal government board . Two years later , in 1993 , in the reshuffle that followed the fall from grace of firebrand councillor Ángel Matanzo , she assumed additional competences becoming Councillor of Environment , Education , Culture and Sports . In June 1995 , after the May election , she became the municipal spokeswoman of the PP and first deputy mayor . Soon after , she was also appointed by the City Council to the Caja Madrid Board of Governors . Minister of Education , Culture and Sports . In the general election of 1996 she was the candidate for the Senate for Madrid of the Peoples Party , after her designation as a member of the National Executive Committee of the Party ; and she became a senator . The then new President , José María Aznar , appointed her to be Minister of Education , Culture and Sports . She was succeeded in those posts in 1999 by Mariano Rajoy . President of the Senate . Aguirre , a Senator since 1996 , was elected President of the Senate in February 1999 , the first woman to do so . In March 2000 , she was re-elected Senator for Madrid , becoming the top-voted candidate in Spain with 1.55 million votes and 50.7% of the popular vote , a percentage record still unbroken . She resigned in 2002 to run for the Presidency of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in the regional Assembly elections of 2003 . She was substituted as President of the Senate by Juan José Lucas . The Tamayazo . When the regional elections took place in May 2003 , the Peoples Party won a plurality of seats . The Peoples Party won 55 seats in the Madrid Assembly , being the only party of the right in the Assembly . On the left , PSOE won 47 seats and United Left won 9 seats , thus making it possible for a coalition of PSOE and IU to rule . However , the election of a leftist coalition was not possible due to two dissenting deputies of the PSOE , Eduardo Tamayo and María Teresa Sáez , who refused to obey the party whip in the first two votes , the election of the speaker and the election of the president . Presidency of the Community of Madrid . In October 2003 , following the scandal of the dissenting deputies , the regional elections were rerun . The Peoples Party won a qualified majority of seats , which enabled Aguirres investiture as President of the Community of Madrid . Aguirres most important stated achievements in those years were the reduction of surgery waiting times , the building of eight new hospitals and 87 new state schools ( most of them bilingual ) , an increase in the investment for several scholarships of education , and the expansion of the Underground to suburban areas such as Pozuelo de Alarcón . The period included the peak of the Spanish construction bubble , and many of her associates would later end up indicted for corruption . On 27 November 2008 , she survived without injury the 2008 Bombay attacks when the shooting caught her up while checking in at the Oberoi Trident . Aguirre announced her retirement as President on 17 September 2012 , citing health issues , and that she would return to her career as a civil servant at the Ministry of Tourism . Activity after her resignation as regional president . Aguirre remained as President of the Peoples Party of the Community of Madrid . On 13 January 2013 the Seeliger and Conde Foundation , an executive search firm , announced the appointment of Esperanza Aguirre as Chairwoman of its Advisory Council , an office compatible with the role of Chairwoman of the Peoples Party of the Community of Madrid . Comeback to local politics . Designated in 2015 by Mariano Rajoy as the PPs Mayoral candidate for the municipality of Madrid , she subsequently ran first in the PPs list for the May 2015 Madrid municipal election . The PPs list obtained a simple majority of 20 seats out of a total 57 , short of the qualified majority needed to remain in government without support from other political parties . She then unsuccessfully pressed to reach a three-way deal between the PP , Citizens and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party ( PSOE ) to avoid the investiture as Mayors of the candidate of the left-wing Ahora Madrid , Manuela Carmena , with the support of the PSOEs municipal councillors . Soon after the investiture of Carmena as Mayor on 13 June 2015 , Aguirre unsuccessfully proposed again another deal with Citizens and the PSOE to oust Carmena . In 2016 , Aguirre resigned from her position as regional party president , ostensibly due to the many corruption cases in the Madrilenian PP under her watch . She retained her position of opposition leader in the Madrid municipal government , and the overall maneuver was widely interpreted as a broadside against her party rival , Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy . On 24 April 2017 , she resigned as municipal councillor ( and from all relating offices ) after the imprisonment of her former right-hand man , Ignacio González ( also her successor as regional president ) for misappropriation of public funds in the Lezo corruption scandal . She was replaced as spokesperson of the PP municipal group by José Luis Martínez-Almeida . Life after retirement and judicial case . After her retirement , she divided her spare time between the dedication to her 6 grandchildren and her passion for golf . Following an August 2019 request filed by the Prosecution service of the Audiencia Nacional before the instructing judge Manuel García-Castellón , the former charged Aguirre ( along with her successors in the presidency of the Madrid region , Ignacio González and Cristina Cifuentes ) with alleged crimes of illicit funding , diversion of public money and document forgery on 2 September 2019 in the proceedings of the Púnica corruption case . García-Castellón , pointed out on a tentative basis the alleged decisive and essential role of Aguirre in the PPs illegal funding scheme , through which more than 6 million euros were subtracted from 8 regional ministries and agencies . On 19 March 2020 alongside her husband , Aguirre was admitted to the hospital after being tested positive for COVID-19 during coronavirus pandemic in Spain . Positions and ideology . Esperanza Aguirre self-defines as a liberal . Known by her professed anglophilia , she has cited her admiration for the figure of Margaret Thatcher . According to Jorge del Palacio , Aguirre aimed to develop a Spanish version of the uneasy union between Conservatism and the Liberalism inspired by F . A . Hayek . She has often been regarded as a leading figure of the most conservative wing of the PP , and , having reportedly held political differences and an uneasy personal relationship with PPs leader Mariano Rajoy , she personally asked the latter for a change in the leadership of the party before the June 2016 general election . Decorations . - Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III ( 22 January 1999 ) . - Grand Cross of the Royal and American Order of Isabella the Catholic ( 23 January 2004 ) . - Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit ( 23 April 2004 ) . - Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise ( 26 December 2014 ) - Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid ( 20 April 2012 ) . - Foreign - Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru ( 8 June 2004 ) - Honorary Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire ( 4 February 2004 ) . - Officer of the Legion of Honour . - Scholastic - Honorary Doctorate , Alfonso X El Sabio University ( 16 April 2013 ) . References .