Pedro Sanchez considers quitting and asks: ‘Is it all worth it?’

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday that he was considering quitting, as he asked: “Is it all worth it?”

Mr Sanchez made the shock announcement in a letter posted on X in which he announced he was suspending public duties while he reflected on his future in frontline politics.

Carta a la ciudadanía. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 24, 2024

"I urgently need an answer to the question of whether it is worthwhile (...) whether I should continue to lead the government or renounce this honour," he said in the letter.

Mr Sanchez said he would announce his decision on April 29.

The development came after a Spanish court on Wednesday said it was launching a preliminary investigation over allegations accusing Mr Sanchez’ wife, Begoña Gómez, of influence peddling and corruption in business.

The court said the decision followed a complaint by the right-wing group Manos Limpias.

In the letter, Mr Sanchez said the allegations were “scandalous” and false and that his wife had taken legal action against “ultraconservative” publications that had published articles on which the Manos Limpias complaint was based.

He decried a months-long campaign of “harassment and destabilisation by land, sea and air” both at a political and personal level.

Mr Sanchez said his wife had done nothing illegal but was being attacked simply for being married to him.

And he accused right-wing parties of refusing to accept electoral results that showed voters in Spain had opted for the PSOE’s “progressive politics”.

“This attack is unprecedented, and is so serious and so crude that I need to stop and reflect with my wife,” Mr Sánchez wrote in the extraordinary letter, which was addressed to Spanish citizens.

“Often we forget that behind the politicians are people.”

“And I do not blush when saying I am a man who is deeply in love with my wife, who is experiencing impotence at the mud that is being spread over her day in and day out.”

“I need to stop and reflect.”

“I have to urgently respond the question of whether it is worth it, despite the right and the far-right seeking to take politics into the mud.”