A cheeky MP was accused of puffing on an e-cig behind the health minister as she spoke in parliament.
Footage shows Javier Arenas putting an object in his mouth during a full Senate session as Mónica García answered a question from one of his party colleagues.
One of his own colleagues sitting beside him clocked him and shot him a wry, knowing look, muttering “camera” as she tapped his arm.
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Arenas quickly stuffed the object back into his jacket and kept a straight face.
Health minister, Mónica García, of the left-wing Más Madrid party, publicly called him out when she shared the clip hours later, as reported by Need To Know.
“Mr Arenas, are you standing behind me in the Senate with an e-cigarette while I’m speaking?” she claimed on Tuesday (4 Nov).
“It’s not a great look for the Health Minister. I’ll let it go, but take your PP colleague’s advice and quit.
“You can always ask your GP for help,” she added, with a dash of sarcasm.
Arenas – the centre-right People’s Party’s number two in Spain’s upper house – flatly denied it.
“Under no circumstances,” he insisted when pressed twice in the Senate corridors. But he added he would “have to review the footage”.
García later doubled down: “They’re not allowed in Parliament, but the video shows how these new devices are making old habits look normal again.
“Decades ago, people smoked in here, and now it seems unthinkable.
“That’s why we’re tightening the rules, bringing vapes in line with tobacco, and expanding smoke-free spaces.”
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