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by Jason Moore

Can you imagine the outcry if Prime Minister David Cameron was spotted walking around New York smoking a cigar as if he didn´t have a care in the world? Well quite rightly there would be outcry but his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy did just that on Wednesday as Spain prepare for yet another round of budget cuts. It was rather an unfortunate image of the Spanish Prime Minister at time when there are five million people without a job in Spain and the rest of the population are braced for yet another round of spending cuts. What image was Rajoy trying to give the rest of the world? Was it a Churchillian cigar-smoking moment with Rajoy trying to emulate the famous World War 2 leader or was it just a lack of judgement on behalf of the Spanish Prime Minister? None of the above, I am afraid to say. It was just Rajoy being Rajoy and he likes smoking cigars ! But Spain was not impressed. They were even less impressed by the the lavish spending by the Prime Minister when he returned from Spain´s victory in the European soccer championships aboard a military jet. It is alleged that the meal served aboard cost in excess of 1'000 euros! Not bad especially when the tax-payer is footing the bill. Perhaps a British style media is needed in Spain. Rajoy´s cigar smoking antics would be over after the first front page. Afterall the Chief Whip has made the front page every day for the last week because he called a police officer a Pleb! (allegedly!).