A stalwart of the conservative People's Party (PP), he has previously been a leading figure in various local and national legislative bodies.

Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón is a cousin of Trinidad Jiménez, the former Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain, and Cécilia Attias, former First Lady of France.

Only one month later, he was elected to the Senate in the delegation designated by the Madrid Assembly and named spokesman of the AP Parliamentary Group body.

On 22 October 1988 Ruiz-Gallardón resigned his party positions as the result of a misunderstanding with chairman Mancha over an agreement with the Democratic and Social Centre (Spain) regarding Assembly rules.

He returned to the PP's National Executive Committee at the Tenth Congress, this time with José María Aznar as party chairman.

On 28 May 1995 Ruiz Gallardón ran for the presidency of the Community of Madrid on a PP ticket, securing a majority of seats in the Assembly for the first time.

During his tenure as regional president, Ruiz Gallardón garnered a high degree of popularity, because of his apparently moderate attitude, especially compared to several leaders of his party.

Following José María Aznar's announcement that he would not seek re-election as Prime Minister in 2004, Gallardón was one of the PP leaders that were mentioned as a possible successor by the mainstream media.

Nicknamed ironically the "Pharaoh" by many locals, the mayor has created an urban renewal plan for Madrid that included the undergrounding of parts of the M30 motorway, the redevelopment of the Manzanares River bank, a push for the virtual gentrification of dwindling historic downtown areas, and a reform of the existing finance laws.

During Ruiz-Gallardón's tenure as mayor, the Madrid City Council in 2005 approved the establishment of a Holocaust memorial in Juan Carlos I Park.

[2] Ruiz-Gallardón had been considered as a leading candidate for the future leader of the PP, his moderate views making him one of the most popular politicians in the opinion polls, rivalling the president of the Community of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, in the leadership race.

In the period leading up to the 2008 general election, Ruiz-Gallardón announced his intention to be placed in the Madrid (Spanish Congress Electoral District) congressional list of the PP.

This move was not approved by Aguirre who announced her intention to resign as President of Madrid in order to run for National Deputy as well (Members of the regional legislatures are barred from the Cortes Generales).

[3] Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón again won an absolute majority of 31 seats out of 57 in Madrid City Council in the municipal elections of 2011, defeating the socialist candidate Jaime Lissavetzky, who had been State Secretary for sports until then.

On 21 December 2011 he was appointed Minister of Justice by Mariano Rajoy, to form part of the first government of the PP after its victory in the general elections held on 20 November 2011.

[5] As regards the Same Gender Marriage law, introduced by the former socialist government in 2004 to legalize gay and lesbian couples marriage, very criticized by the Catholic Church and by the People's Party, that join the demonstrations promoted "in defense of the family", Ruiz Gallardón said that the government would await the decision of the Constitutional Court about the appeal lodged by the People's Party as soon as the law was passed by the Courts.