Not just because of possible abuses he had committed, if he had, but because of the risk there would never be an alternative government." Mr Anson recalled: "I didn't like sending my reporters on the road with Gonzalez because they would start off criticos and end up Felipistas."I myself avoided meeting him ... This is taken to refer to supposed plans, aired at the time, to provoke the abdication of King Juan Carlos and the establishment of a republic.Mr Anson says that after the Socialists' narrow victory in 1993 a group of prominent radio, television and print journalists met regularly in his office to plan ways of "raising the threshold of criticism ... I couldn't forget coming out of our conversations thinking: `Why must I criticise someone so agreeable, seductive and interesting?' "Among those named by Mr Anson is Pedro Ramirez, editor of El Mundo newspaper, which yesterday accused the Socialists of being the real conspirators.They set up the undercover anti-Eta death-squads, the Gal, which killed more than 20 Basques in the early 1980s, then tried to cover up the truth and escape the punishment they deserve, El Mundo said.. by probing the world of irregularities, of corruption." These efforts "reached such extremes that they frequently nudged the stability of the state."In the Tiempo interview Mr Anson admits "Mr Gonzalez was right when he denounced the threat .. but it was the only way to get him out. "[Mr Anson] knows that the conspirators' plans were much more ambitious" than to replace Mr Gonzalez with a conservative government.
of a concerted effort to play dirty", and called upon him to tell the whole truth. A leading right- wing commentator admits he and a clutch of disaffected journalists plotted to oust the Socialist leader after his fourth election victory in 1993, even at the cost of threatening Spain's young democracy. "It was an assault operation," says Luis Maria Anson, former editor of the conservative ABC newspaper, now Spain's head of a Mexican media company, Televisa. The former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez was not being paranoid when he said murky forces were out to get him. The left of centre news magazine Marianne devoted a column yesterday to Mr Blair's reported decision to block the House of Lords' attempt to end the Rupert Murdoch-inspired newspaper price war in Britain.Marianne contrasted Mr Blair's "moralising" approach to politics with what it took to be his cynical decision to retain the support of the Sun..
There have also been tensions on European issues, especially the exact nature of Britain's non-playing relationship with the countries who will join the Single European Currency next year.Mr Blair and "Le Blairisme" retain a mostly positive image in France. The British Prime Minister is a favourite with French centre-right politicians and newspapers, if only as a stick with which to beat Mr Jospin and his more traditional approach to centre left politics.In the last few weeks, however, there has been a re-examination of the adulation of Mr Blair. The visit to Paris is also expected to include informal talks with the Socialist Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, and the President Jacques Chirac.Relations between Britain and France have been a little strained in recent weeks by the divergent approaches taken to the Iraq crisis. His predecessors are King Juan Carlos of Spain, President Bill Clinton, King Hassan II of Morocco and the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi. All but President Clinton spoke in French."This is a very new tradition for the assembly," said an official at the French Parliament yesterday. "No previous British prime minister has been invited because, until the last few years, we never invited heads of state or government to address us in this way."The formal invitation to Mr Blair came from the former French Socialist Premier, Laurent Fabrus, who is now president of the assembly - something between the Speaker of the Commons and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Mr Blair worked in France as a student and has spent several recent family holidays in the South-west of the country.Although no final decision has been taken, officials in the French Parliament say they understand Mr Blair hopes to give part or all of his speech in French.A date for the visit has yet to be finalised but it likely to be around 24 March.Mr Blair will be only the fifth foreign head of state or government ever to address the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament.
