http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6722553.ecePatrizia D'Addario: secret recordings by the prostitute plumbed new depths of indignity
Josephine McKenna in Rome, Graham Keeley and David Charter
Lurid new revelations about Silvio Berlusconi’s alleged antics with a call girl led the Italian Opposition to press yesterday for the first parliamentary debate on the damage being done to the country’s image by its errant Prime Minister. The political pressure increased on Mr Berlusconi, 72, after secret recordings by the prostitute Patrizia D’Addario plumbed new depths of indignity, with discussions of the Prime Minister’s antipathy to condoms, his alleged predilection for threesomes and whether he suffered from sexual disease.
A voice said to be Mr Berlusconi’s can also be heard in another recording bragging: “Now I am unbeatable — three times!” It turned out that this was a reference to the number of G8 meetings he has hosted — more than any other international leader. Ms D’Addario also gave a lengthy interview to a Spanish magazine claiming that she had spent the night with Mr Berlusconi but refused to charge her usual fee of ¤because, she alleged, he had promised to sort out planning problems with a family building project.
Yesterday’s disclosures marked the latest chapter in a sex-and-parties saga that has run for months and included the announcement that Mr Berlusconi’s wife will sue for divorce over his friendship with a model aged 18. It finally became too much for the centre-left Opposition, the Democratic Party (PD), which drafted a motion stating that the constant drip of revelations had “weakened the image and authority of the Italian Government”.
Mr Berlusconi’s majority coalition in the Senate delayed the motion last night but was shaken by a dip in its leader’s popularity rating to below 50 per cent for the first time since his election last year, suggesting that Italians are beginning to tire of the affair.
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