Furious Mussolini to start new party after split

FIRST she left her right- wing party, furious about its leader’s denunciation of Italy’s fascist past.

Then Alessandra Mussolini, proud granddaughter of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, said she would start her own political party Mussolini’s announcement last week severed her ties with the National Alliance party, and especially its leader, Gianfranco Fini.

It also showed how some party officials and the rank-and-file still have a deep nostalgia for the fascist government, though it may not be politically correct.

Known in the media simply as the Granddaughter, Ms Mussolini, 40, is a burst of contradictions known for her blend of blunt talk and theatrical gestures. She has condemned some of her grandfather’s anti-Semitic practices, but has always fought to defend his name.

During a visit to Israel last month, Fini condemned “the shameful chapters in the history of our people” and denounced as disgraceful the anti-Jewish laws in 1938 under fascism It was too much for Ms Mussolini, who said last week the remarks were incompatible with her name and walked out of the party. The association she founded this week is named Freedom for Action.

The National Alliance’s forerunner the Italian Social Movement, was founded on the ashes of Mussolini’s Fascist party. It is the second-largest in Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling coalition.