Politicians show their support for Prodi comeback

Party leaders rallied behind Romano Prodi last night, boosting his chances of returning to office days after he resigned as Italian prime minister.

Centre-left politicians told the Italian president, who has been holding talks aimed at solving the political crisis, that they were ready to support any bids by Mr Prodi to return to the premiership.

Earlier, they all signed up to a new detailed government programme that Mr Prodi said would be “non-negotiable”.