THE Spanish Defence Minister has said that he will not accept a military medal that he allegedly awarded himself after only days in office.

José Bono, who described Tony Blair this year as “un gilipollas integral” (“a complete dickhead”), bowed to pressure from opposition politicians, members of his own party, satirical television shows and newspaper cartoons lampooning his decision to accept the Grand Cross for Military Merit.

The minister won the decoration for his success in securing the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq. But he said that the “more-than-sad face of my son”, who was being affected by the uproar over the award, had persuaded him to relinquish it. Opposition parties countered that the minister’s son had more commonsense than Señor Bono.

The decision to give him the honour, according its bearer the right to be addressed as “your most excellent lordship”, was taken at the meeting last Friday of the Socialist Government’s Cabinet. The award was not officially announced, as would normally be the case.

Mariano Rajoy, the opposition leader, asked for the decision to be reversed in the name of “decency and embarrassment”, adding that it was “neither serious nor respectful”. A Basque politician said that the award was “frivolous and worthy of a Third World country”.

The conservative newspaper ABC claimed that the initiative for the honour came from Señor Bono himself and that it was opposed by at least three ministers. The minister left the Cabinet room while the decision was taken.

Señor Bono, who was president of the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha for 21 years before becoming Defence Minister, turned his Cabinet investiture six weeks ago into an extraordinary state-like occasion, to which he invited editors, popular entertainers and high-ranking clergy.

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