This article is from the archive of our partner. We've marveled at Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's ability to remain in office despite his fondness for Holocaust jokes , underage Moroccan runaways named Ruby the Heart Stealer , and 'bunga bunga' parties at his villa outside Milan, which include everything you'd expect from a 'bunga bunga' party hosted by Silvio Berlusconi. How to explain the man's remarkable resiliency? We'd suggest that the year-old embattled prime minister--like countless other year-old embattled prime ministers before him--has benefited from the press heretofore refraining from publishing any photos of the aging prime minister "naked in the company of young women.

By Sophie Tanno For Mailonline. Cafagna said she would try to preserve Forza Italia as a 'centre-left' party that does not incite 'hatred and intolerance. Mara Carfagna pictured in , left, and , right worked as a glamour model before entering politics in Berlusconi subsequently denied claims that he has become a political third wheel for Salvini. A source close to the party said that Ms Carfagna had the support of up to 50 of the MPs in the party and that numerous MPs dislike Berlusconi's swerve towards populism.

The pictures are alleged to have been taken by one or more of the showgirls who attended the Italian leader's so-called ''bunga bunga'' parties at his mansion outside Milan. Mr Berlusconi's legal team said the pictures, if they existed, ''would be fakes, manipulated pictures, photo montages''. They nonetheless filed complaints with judicial authorities and Italy's privacy watchdog as a precaution against publication. Investigators seized computers and mobile phones from young women whom Mr Berlusconi, 74, allegedly installed as a ''harem'' in an upmarket apartment in Milan.

Mirek Topolanek, the eccentric former Czech prime minister, is no stranger to problems with photographers. Last year he punched a Czech cameraman who took a picture of his sleeping baby. But this weekend he has found himself in an almost impossible struggle to protect his dignity, after being shown naked and in a state of arousal next to Silvio Berlusconi's swimming pool. The Italian prime minister had gained an injunction to prevent up to photographs of private parties at his Sardinian villa appearing in the Italian media.