Even long-time friends and allies used to the twists and turns of their leader’s policies and chequered private life were left shocked; embarrassed.
Silvio Berlusconi’s televised rant against Italy’s judiciary, the constitution, “hegemonistic” Germany and, worst of all, his scarcely veiled threat to bring down Mario Monti’s technocrat government left his supporters struggling to calm the waters before financial markets were to open today.
“It was an emotional moment,” explained Franco Frattini, a former foreign minister and friend of the three-time prime minister. “Look at his body language, typical of a man who is really furious . . . But even I was surprised at his outburst against the Monti government.”
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