A new Socialist government comes to power in Spain without any authentic democratic majority (having got only 22% of the vote at the last general election). The first thing they do is throw open the country’s borders and accept hundreds of unwanted African invaders on a ship rejected by Italy. The second thing they do is cook up a law to criminalise the speech of their political opponents and vilify their historical memory.

After this law has been passed it will be impossible to state the truth in Spain. So let me state it now: It was the Left that attacked democracy in Spain, not the Right. Franco was a response to the Left’s attempts to suppress, criminalise and even murder their political opponents. And had he not acted, Spain would have been engulfed in a Soviet-like tyranny.