‘The Cavalier’ is still fighting allegations of corruption and mafia connections

SILVIO BERLUSCONI, the energetic Italian, always had close allies in government but by 1994 Italy was in political paralysis.

The judiciary had initiated ‘Operation Clean Hands’, scrubbing up the bribe-riddled parties in Italian government. Berlusconi decided to go for the top job himself.

His Forza Italia was as much a populist movement as a political party.

It worked like a dream. In the May 1994 elections, Forza Italia emerged as Italy’s largest party, and Berlusconi was prime minister of a coalition government.

From the outset, Berlusconi’s various conflicts of interest provoked criticism.

This, with the perilous state of the nation’s economy, forced the prime minister to resign only 226 days after his jubilant arrival.

For cynical observers of Italian governing shenanigans, it was business as usual.

Berlusconi spent the following years organising his party into something more traditional. And by 2001, he was back on his political throne, having waged a masterly election campaign.

He was driven, he said, by the knowledge that ‘only I can turn this country around’.

Il Cavaliere (the Cavalier, as he is known by the Italian public) has carried on pretty much where he left off. He has fought off all allegations of corruption and mafiosi connections, and his grip on Italian media remains vice-like.

Members of hi s own party dispute claims that their leader is a control freak. Antonio Martino explains that.

“If you want to use your power for personal gain, you don't put yourself centre stage.”

Perhaps not, but while Silvio Berlusconi maintains such an authoritarian and expansive economic wand, he will continue to raise questions about his own particular brand of political theatre.