Silvio Berlusconi could barely contain his relief. As the results of Tuesday's crucial confidence vote were read out, he clapped his hands with joy and grinned bullishly. Despite months of sex scandals, corruption charges, legal battles, constitutional crises, and political infighting, he had defied political gravity once again. Far from taking the beating that pundits predicted, il Cavaliere - as the flamboyant Berlusconi is known - saw off the threat posed by his one-time ally, Gianfranco Fini, and has consolidated his hold on the premiership, despite squeaking through the vote by the narrowest of margins.
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