Rajoy had secured the backing of Ciudadanos on the premise Rajoy would clean up corruption.

But moments after the last coalition vote, which failed, Rajoy's economy minister attempted to appoint a corrupt and disgraced colleague to a lucrative position at the World Bank.

Accusations have been ongoing ever since, and today things blew up in Spanish parliament in a very heated debate.

 Luis de Guindos, Spain's economy minister, faced criticism in parliament on Tuesday over a contentious decision — since withdrawn — to appoint a disgraced former colleague to a lucrative position at the World Bank.

The affair has triggered a political backlash both against Mr de Guindos and against Spain's caretaker government under Mariano Rajoy, the acting prime minister. In a tense and at times ill-tempered session of the parliament's economic affairs committee on Tuesday evening, opposition leaders repeatedly accused Mr de Guindos of lying to the public — and urged him to withdraw.