Why is blundering Berlusconi so popular at home?

published 17 April 2009

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's 72-year-old prime minister, is widely seen as a "buffoon", says Richard Owen in The Times, but his latest gaffe urging the homeless survivors of the Abruzzo earthquake to think of themselves as on a 'camping holiday' makes one wonder why Italians elected him not once but three times. His capacity for putting his foot in it is extraordinary, agrees Jenny McCartney in The Sunday Telegraph. In the space of a fortnight he has managed to "irritate the Queen" by shouting for Barack Obama at the G20 photo-call and then snub Angela Merkel by chatting on his mobile phone while she waited to greet him. Then there was the time he hailed the then president-elect Obama as "handsome and suntanned" and tried to tempt a group of investors in New York with talk of Italy's "beautiful secretaries", says Tana de Zulueta in The Guardian.

But "Berlusconi the blunderer is news abroad, not at home", thanks in part to his control of the press. Through his media group, Mediaset, Berlusconi and his family control three national television channels, two newspapers, a host of magazines, the biggest cinema chain and the largest book publisher in Italy. Berlusconi's style of government "reminds some of Mussolini", says Owen: he has "used his power to give himself immunity from prosecution and often governs by decree". But there are also plenty of Italians who find his "clowning" endearing and admire him for speaking his mind. And to be fair, the prime minister has responded pretty well to the crisis, says The Economist. He cancelled a summit in Moscow to take charge, and rushed to the area to comfort victims and tour the tent cities.

Berlusconi's enduring popularity "illustrates a truth about politics in general", says McCartney, which is that "a flamboyant politician who is unabashed about his weaknesses can get away with infinitely more than respectable, guilt-ridden types could ever dream of" (think of Alan Clark). What is baffling is that Italians have allowed such a character to represent them on the international stage for so long.