Self-made Latin lothario counts the cost of one indulgence too many

SILVIO BERLUSCONI dominated Italy for 17 years with a unique mix of political talent and brazen behaviour but in the end it was market pressure from abroad that brought him down.

Berlusconi confirmed last night that he would stand down after a new budget law is approved in parliament.

Bolstered by unrivalled communication skills and a dominance of Italian media, for years Berlusconi seemed immune to a series of controversies that would have destroyed a politician in most other parts of the world.

They included the lurid “Rubygate” scandal, in which he was charged with having sex with an under-age prostitute, and included a wave of salacious revelations from police wiretaps about alleged orgies at his luxurious Milan villa.

He also faces two ongoing fraud cases, the latest in more than 30 prosecutions by magistrates he accuses of being communists bent on perverting democracy.

The perma-tanned media tycoon, once a cruise ship crooner, was always unrepentant about a notoriously off-colour sense of humour and a series of diplomatic gaffes which led some foreign leaders to try to avoid being photographed with him.

Berlusconi, 75, one of Italy’s richest men, has been in political decline for most of this year, his former mastery undermined by glaring misjudgments in local elections and three referendums.

Berlusconi’s demise is a far cry from 2008, when a landslide victory gave him his strongest mandate. He had been prime minister for longer than any postwar leader, painting himself as the only choice for the dominant conservative voting bloc and a bastion against communism.

In 2009, estranged wife Veronica denounced his sex life and accused him of consorting with under-age girls, sowing doubts in the minds of voters who had hitherto been charmed by his image as a self-made macho Latin male.

Berlusconi initially laughed off the economic problems as a figment of the left’s imagination, and only a few days ago caused offence by saying Italy was not really in crisis, with the restaurants full and vacation flights fully booked.

As owner of Italy’s main private television channels and soccer team AC Milan after making a fortune in a construction boom, he typified an Italian dream.

Berlusconi created his own party almost overnight in 1994 to fill the void on the right caused by the downfall of the long-dominant Christian Democrats by a corruption scandal.

His media empire, Mediaset, has a near-duopoly in television with state-run RAI, over which, as premier, he has ultimate control. This gives him a much-criticised stranglehold on Italian media.

Critics say he has used his political and media power to fend off many prosecutions.

Italians are traditionally indulgent of politicians’ private lives but the Catholic Church distanced itself from him following reports of starlets dancing half-naked for him in return for cash and gifts. He boasted in one phone call of having sex with eight women in one night.

Berlusconi has always maintained the dinners he hosted were jovial affairs that involved little more than food and song. His only concession has been to say he is “no saint” and loves beautiful women.