Italian voters turn on 'great communicator'

Battle-hardened: controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi prepares himself before the second of two angry televised debates he has had with opposition leader Romano Prodi.

Photograph: Andreas Solero/ AFP/ Getty Images

HE HAS lost his voice and for once the "great communicator" was almost silent. If ever there was a sign from above that the creaking, leaking Silvio Berlusconi boat was sinking without trace, then yesterday was probably it.

Millions of Italian voters will go to the ballot boxes today and tomorrow to decide who leads the next Italian government. Berlusconi trails his rival, the grey bureaucrat Romano Prodi, in the opinion polls, and despite a bravura performance over the last few days, 'Il Cavaliere' - the knight, as the former media tycoon is known - will now, barring a dramatic reversal of fortunes, have to face up to defeat.

If it is the end of one of Europe's most colourful political episodes of the last decade, then at least the 69-year-old billionaire is going down fighting. Read on.