Silvio Berlusconi, billionaire entrepreneur, four times prime minister of Italy and sometime cruise ship crooner, who has died at 86, pioneered a style of performance politics that provided a template for Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.
He rode to power in 1994 by using television in novel ways. He could afford to, because he owned most commercial outlets, led by his Mediaset empire. He used the national football slogan ‘Forza Italia’ to forge a party which treated voters like the fandom of AC Milan, which he owned for more than 30 years.
