Silvio Berlusconi: after a summer of sex scandal, he is making enemies of his friends

Silvio Berlusconi is not only embroiled in a series of sex scandals, he is also losing friends: this week, Gianfranco Fini, who was a key political ally.

He has picked fights with the Catholic Church, the Italian and international press and the European Union, but Silvio Berlusconi now risks making an enemy of an even more formidable foe - his closest political ally. The flamboyant prime minister, who was recently accused of having sex with half a dozen call girls and starlets at his palazzo in Rome, is embroiled in a damaging feud with the dapper Gianfranco Fini, his most powerful coalition partner. The public row has added to the sense of crisis surrounding his centre-right government and intensified speculation that, after 15 years at the forefront of Italian politics, his iron grip may be fatally weakening. ... Telegraph