Speaking to his party’s national executive committee in Madrid on Tuesday, a tearful Rajoy began his speech by saying: “I want my first words to be thanks to all of you for the support and the displays of affection.” He continued: “I have felt greatly comforted by your support these last days, which have not been easy for anyone.”

The time has come to bring this journey to an end Former PM Mariano Rajoy

He soon turned his attention to Pedro Sánchez, the new prime minister of Spain, and the man behind the motion of no-confidence filed against Rajoy in response to a damning court ruling in the so-called Gürtel case, a corruption probe that has plagued the PP for years. Rajoy also pointed to what he considers his government’s achievements in the Spanish economy, stating that “yesterday we saw the best unemployment figures for May in our history, and we are about to achieve the highest level of people signed up to the Social Security system since July 2007.”

The view of Spain, he added, “is exactly the opposite to the one when we arrived in government.”

After thanking his party colleagues for their “enormous loyalty,” which elicited applause from the attendees, he announced that he would be standing down as president of the PP. The motion had been proposed by the socialist PSOE party after Spain’s highest criminal court found that the PP had benefitted from a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme in a case that became emblematic of the party’s corruption.
Former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy resigns as the leader of People's Party, four days after losing the no-confidence vote that ended his premiership.