Thread by @milfordedge

#PabloCasado has been leader of the same old Partido Popular for barely a week. How long is he going to last?

🔵Academic Fraud
🔵The PP is incorrigible
🔵#Cifuentes and Casado
🔵Straight on the #Catalans’ case

#Spain

barbaryfigs.com/2018/07/29/the…

Thanks to @eldiarioes it's known that:
2/13
In 2008, Pablo Casado enrolled in a Harvard Master’s program, the grandly named “Driving Government Performance”. It's one of the 3 “American” qualifications Casado's most proud of, citing his “Harvards” at every opportunity

3/13
Casado's course was offered by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (University of King Juan Carlos) and actually took place in the University of Navarre-owned IESE business school in Madrid. The “Harvard program” consisted of an intensive 4-day course from 16 to 19 June

4/13
Casado's course was sponsored by the Community of Madrid, amongst others. Casado doesn't remember whether he received a scholarship or not. To pass the course it was only necessary to attend classes and do the coursework, but it seems the PP’s brand new leader did neither

5/13
Casado was awarded the degree with 18 out of 22 subjects being prevalidated - irregularly - with the remaining 4 dependent on presentating papers. 3 of the 4 pending subjects were taught by same tutor as disgraced ex-PP Madrid president Cifuentes had for her fake degree

6/13
Casado was given an “excellent” grade, which would've required 60-360 hrs of class - debates, activities, group work, exams, 90 pages of assignments, etc. Casado never attended class and, though he claims he presented all 4 pieces, no trace has been found

7/13
Casado and URJC claim all records from this period have been destroyed, though many contemporaries' end-of-degree projects are still available, many online. Perhaps it’s understandable Casado’s memory is hazy; that summer, he passed no less than 3 “postgraduate programs”

8/13
Most of the string of phantom PP degrees have been uncovered by investigative journalists. In this case, the principal investigation was undertaken by online newspaper @eldiarioes. Laudable that there are still brave souls doing this job in modern Spain.

9/13
Why do PP politicians – and a few from other parties – need to bolster their resumés with fake qualifications? Because they're career politicians? Because they've never worked outside the political sphere? Casado is one of those.

10/13
These “degrees” were mainly doled out by one university with a strong PP pedigree and deep PP affinity, the University of King Juan Carlos. It would be the university that bears the name of the immune delinquent king, wouldn’t it?

11/13
Such qualifications aren't necessary to represent people. Ordinary people hate the idea of the privileged getting grants from public administrations to get a string of "master's" doing no work, having no assignments assessed, never attending a class nor defending a thesis

12/13
Ordinary people see them as the cocks, the foxes and the crows of hubristic fables, boasting of their “wits” - their range of abilities, their skill-sets - to the single-skilled cats and hedgehogs. In the fables, they're not as clever as they think and always wind up dead

13/13
In real-life Casados always survive, moved on to a cushy job in the administration, pushed through a revolving door onto the board of a multinational company or a European institution, kicked upstairs, moved sideways, so many possible fates yet none involves being eaten