WITH her folksy manner and humble origins, Susana Díaz does not at first sight seem a likely savior of old-style Spanish politics. But this 40-year-old local heroine salvaged the fortunes of the battered Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) by retaining her position as political leader of Andalusia in a regional election on March 22nd. She is now in the vanguard of a fightback by established parties as they resist newcomers bent on cleaning up politics.
Although her age and sex mark her out (Spain has never had a female prime minister), Ms Díaz is very much an old-school politician. She worked her way discreetly through the party ranks, heading the regional youth group and becoming a city councillor in Seville at 24. Long experience at the political coalface made her a plausible successor when the previous Andalusian president resigned in 2013.
Good at banging heads together, she made her name as an efficient (and feared) backroom apparatchik. Such skills are badly needed by her party. It says something about the state of Spanish socialism that her recent, moderately successful performance has won her accolades as a miracle-worker in…
