The New Chief of Staff of a Minister: Tainted by Ayuso's Boyfriend's Email

Laura Sánchez Espada's career has been nothing short of upward. From her beginnings, she has reached key positions in the political and media fields. Her latest position was as Director of Communications for the Ministry of Housing, where she manages the minister's communication strategy.

Last Tuesday the 11th, the Council of Ministers appointed Laura Sánchez Espada as the director of the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda's Cabinet. A department led by the socialist Isabel Rodríguez.

Her new position has already been published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). An appointment that has not been without controversy following the UCO's report on the case of Ayuso's boyfriend.

Now, the new director of Isabel Rodríguez's Cabinet will be considered a "senior official" of the Executive. So much so that, according to the corresponding 2024 table from the Ministry of Housing's Transparency Portal, she will earn an annual salary of 111,477.92 euros.

However, her meteoric rise is overshadowed by the scandal of the leak of a key email, related to Alberto González Amador. The UCO has discovered that several senior government officials had early access to this email before its leak to the press.

According to UCO agents, Laura Sánchez Espada was one of the five people in the government circle implicated. Or that she "at least" had "knowledge" of the email concerning Isabel Díaz Ayuso's boyfriend. The same email that the defense of the Madrid president's partner sent to the prosecutor in charge of the tax case "before being published in any media."

The email, which contained sensitive information, was revealed to the public and ended up being a hot topic in Spanish politics. According to the UCO, senior officials in Sánchez's government, including Pilar Sánchez Acera, Francesc Vallès, Ion Antolín, and Laura Sánchez Espada.

All of them knew the content of the email before its dissemination. This fact calls into question the integrity of those involved and the Executive's transparency policy.

Her Meteoric Career

Since graduating from the Complutense University in 2018, Laura Sánchez Espada took her first professional steps as an intern writer at PSOE. Her foray into the political world was swift, and in just two years she moved to Digital Communication at CEF-PSOE. Where she continued under the party's umbrella.

This meteoric rise, without notable professional training in the field of communication or previous experience in high-responsibility positions. Something that raised concerns about the speed with which she managed to reach key positions.

In just a short period of time, Sánchez Espada landed in the Directorate of Communication of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Function. Later, she reached the Directorate of Communication of the Ministry of Housing. According to her public LinkedIn profile, she doesn't have specialized academic training or a long professional track record to justify such advances.