Esperanza Aguirre - Councillor of Madrid (1983-1996)

Councillor of Madrid (1983-1996)

Esperanza Aguirre first became a councillor with the defunct Coalición Popular, in which she was a member of the smaller Unión Liberal. Between 1983 and 1986 she held a seat on Madrid City Council as a member of Coalición Popular. While in opposition, she was a member of the Standing Committee of the City Council, a CP spokeswoman on the areas of Culture, Education, Youth and Sports Affairs, and the Moncloa district. When Unión Liberal merged with Partido Liberal, in December 1984, she held different positions in the National Executive and the Political Council of José Antonio Segurado's Partido Liberal.

In 1987 she left the Partido Liberal and joined Popular Alliance, which later became the People's Party. She was subsequently re-elected to the city council and continued in opposition until 1989, when a successful vote of no confidence ousted the socialist mayor Juan Barranco, which allowed the People's Party and Democratic and Social Centre to govern Madrid for the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1977. In the new local executive, she was designated head of the Department of the Environment.

In 1991, under José María Álvarez del Manzano, the People's Party won a council majority and Aguirre was again appointed to the Environment Department. Two years later, she was designated as Head of the Culture Department and controlled the areas of Sports, Education and Hygiene. In 1995 she became the spokeswoman of People's Party in Madrid City Council and was appointed by the City Council to the Caja Madrid Board of Governors.