02 February 2025 , 14:22
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Spain’s ambassador to Belgium will be sacked for taking a ’siesta’ while his boss gave an hour-long speech during a summit in Madrid last month.
Alberto Anton was dismissed by Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares after he was filmed dozing off at the annual ambassador’s conference, Spanish media has reported.
A short clip shared on social media shows Anton yawning and rubbing his eyes before he drifts into sleep in the middle of the meeting.
The ambassador can later be seen with his head tilted to one side as he enjoys his snooze.
The foreign minister’s response to the unscheduled nap is his latest move in a ’crusade’ against his colleagues, Spanish outlet El Independiente reported.
Dubbed ’Little Napoleon’, Albares has been accused of creating a ’climate of terror’, having recently sacked seven senior officials over personal slights.
’He notes things that happened 15 or 20 years ago: someone who did not greet him when he entered the office; a bad look or a phrase. He saves everything and ends up punishing you. Now he is trying to remember his entire career’, an unnamed diplomat told the publication.
#HCHInternacionales | El Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de España ha destituido al embajador en Bélgica, Alberto Antón, después de que apareciera bostezando y cabeceando durante un discurso del canciller José Manuel Albares en la Conferencia de Embajadores en Madrid, reporta La… pic.twitter.com/O9tG1X0Nnq
— HCH Televisión Digital (@HCHTelevDigital) February 1, 2025
Another diplomat told newspaper ABC that Albares keeps a list of all the officials he holds grudges over.
’We call it the notebook of Monte Cristo and revenge is unleashed on all the names he has written’, the unnamed official said.
Spain’s ambassador to Croatia Juan Gonzalez-Barba has also fallen victim to the Socialist minister’s latest firing frenzy after publishing an article defending Spanish King Felipe VI in newspaper El Confidencial.
Albares has come under fire over the yearsfor his alleged behaviour.
In one notable instance, when Queen Elizabeth died, Albares prohibited Spanish diplomats in London from commenting on the monarch’s death.
He also reportedly berated the head of the Cervantes Institute in the British capital for speaking about the late Queen to Spanish media.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry told MailOnline that the ambassador to Belgium has not been dismissed and remains in his post.
But citing official sources, Spanish paper El Mundo reported that Anton has already been informed of his dismissal, which will not be effective until Belgium approves this agreement.
The Spanish ambassador to Belgium’s sleepy mishap is not the first to happen in politics.
Jacob Rees-Mogg was mocked in 2019 after he was pictured lying down with his eyes closed in the House if Commons during a crunch Brexit debate.