By the spring of 1936 the political tension in Spain was growing apace. As a result of the February 1936 electoral débâcle, the right had determined to take its struggle against reform beyond the parliamentary arena. The links between the politicians of the clerical and monarchist right and the military conspirators were tightened and in May, faced with the growing threat of military sedition, Prieto attempted to bolster the republican government by taking over as prime minister. It was the elevation of prime minister Manuel Azaña to the presidency of the Republic which gave Prieto the opening he needed to attempt socialist reintegration into government. This had been Prieto's fundamental objective all along since the refloating of the republican-socialist accord in 1935. However, his initiative was checked by both the party left and the UGT. On 6 May the latter again threatened to break up the Popular Front should the PSOE executive permit the entry of socialists into the republican government. Although both the PSOE executive and its national committee were solidly behind Prieto, within the PSOE parliamentary party caballerista hostility was clear. The left's majority there – the result of the February 1936 elections – condemned Prieto's proposal of a broad-based Popular Front government to defeat.