PEDRO SÁNCHEZ came to power in 2018 through a censure motion that ousted his conservative predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, after a court found the centre-right People’s Party (PP) had practised “institutionalised corruption”. Mr Sánchez promised “democratic regeneration”. But he and his Socialist Party have now come almost full circle. After a judge released a police report containing devastating evidence of systematic corruption by two of Mr Sánchez’s closest party aides, a sombre prime minister apologised eight times at a press conference on June 12th. He promised a shake-up in the party leadership and an external audit of its finances. That is unlikely to be enough to restore his authority, or perhaps even to save his job.