Botella served on the
Madrid City Council from 2003 to 2011. During her terms, she served as deputy mayor to
Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón and oversaw the Departments of Social Services (2003-2007) and Environment (2007-2011). She was criticized for failure to tackle Madrid's air pollution which frequently exceeded permitted levels while she was responsible for the city's environment. Botella was an outspoken
climate change denier. In September 2013, Botella garnered national attention following embarrassing and nonsensical comments made in broken English during Madrid's push to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, which derailed what was otherwise a highly respected bid and turned her into a popular meme. When Ruiz-Gallardón resigned to become the
Justice Minister in Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy's government, Botella became mayor on 27 December 2011. On 9 September 2014, Botella announced that she would not run for re-election in the May 2015 elections. ==Personal life==