Juan Carlos quits as Rajoy calls it “moment for change”

Doubts were being expressed in Spain this afternoon about the real reasons for the sensational abdication of King Juan Carlos in favour of his son.

For six days now, The Slog has been getting tips via phone and email about an imminent major meltdown in Spain, across the spectrum of banking liquidity, sovereign breakup and social rebellion. Both Spanish and US sources were in touch with me yesterday, carrying identical stories of helicopters disrupting social media, mayhem in the streets of Barcelona, and Skype being blocked.

Now suddenly the King abdicates (despite recent scandals, his decision came as a complete surprise) and Mario Rajoy was very quick to comment, “King Juan Carlos has told me of his desire to give up the throne, and I’m convinced this is the best moment for change”.

Given Rajoy’s pedigree, this is unlikely to mean change for the better. The King had always been a champion of democracy and free speech, but some laws recently passed in Spain have been, to say the least, draconian.

The inflammatory comments of the IMF’s James Daniel yesterday will not have helped matters.

Stay tuned: this story is the precursor to further developments in Spain.