Silvio Berlusconi rules out return as Italian prime minister

In the interview with The Financial Times, Mr Berlusconi said that when he stepped down in November last year he did so “with elegance” – despite the fact that he was booed and jeered by large crowds in Rome, with people yelling “buffoon” and “thief” at his passing motorcade as he arrived at the presidential palace to hand in his resignation.

He repeated his mantra that throughout his political career, which began in 1994, he had been unfairly hounded by a biased, Left-wing judiciary, which he has accused in the past of being as radicalised as “the Taliban”.

He said he had finally “stepped aside” within the centre-Right People of Freedom party that he founded.

He would not run for prime minister in Italy’s next elections, expected in 2013, but would remain in the background as a guiding “father” figure.

He reiterated his faith in his chosen successor, Angelino Alfano, a 41-year-old Sicilian lawyer and former justice minister, although he said the party would hold primaries so that its next candidate for prime minister could be chosen democratically.

He gave his approval of the technocrat government of Mario Monti, which was hastily cobbled together in the wake of his resignation, when Italy was assailed by market jitters over its ability to handle its 1.9 trillion euro national debt.

Mr Monti has embarked on the formidable task of bringing wide-ranging reforms to Italy’s calcified economy, as well as cutting spending and clamping down on the country’s endemic tax evasion.

Mr Berlusconi reiterated complaints that the office of prime minister in Italy does not carry enough clout and that the post-war constitution gives too much weight to small parties, making the country almost ungovernable.

He has previously expressed sympathy for Benito Mussolini, who lamented that he lacked real authority and that true power lay with the officials in his fascist government.

Mr Berlusconi may have shed some of his political ambitions since leaving office, but it has been business as usual in many other respects.

When he attended a book launch in parliament this week, he found himself sitting opposite a blonde Italian porn star.

Vittoria Risi is thought to be the first adult entertainer to enter the Italian parliament since the days of porn star MP Ilona Staller, better known as La Cicciolina, 20 years ago.

“Her plunging neckline and tight dress stole the scene from the author of the book and his guests, among which was Silvio Berlusconi,” one news report said.

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