Just weeks ago, global news organisations were rifling through their obituary war chests as Silvio Berlusconi was rushed to hospital. The 82-year-old former Italian premier, known for his sordid sex parties and crashing gaffes, often on the world stage, was mid-campaign for the European parliament elections when he was rushed in for bowel surgery. Berlusconi himself feared he had “reached the end of the line”, Independent

In recent years Berlusconi has been dogged by health problems, and had heart surgery in 2016.

Time and time again the oft-disgraced politician has been given up for dead before making a triumphant return. This time he left his sickbed to return to the campaign trail – and has now been elected as an MEP.

His election marks, what he will hope, is the first step on the path back to the corridors of power, after he was forced to give up his parliamentary seat following a conviction for tax fraud in 2015. An Italian court last year lifted, for good behaviour, a ban on Berlusconi holding public office.

As the first name on his party’s list in four out of five constituencies, Berlusconi was a shoo-in for election under the proportional representation system used in European elections, says Giovanni Orsina, director of the school of governance at Luiss University in Rome. “If you are going to vote for Forza Italia, you are going to vote for Berlusconi. His voters believe in him personally. For his die-hard base he can do no wrong.”

Speaking on Monday, the man himself said that the result showed: “We are still indispensable – without Forza Italia the centre right cannot win … In Brussels I will remain the sole levee against anti-European nationalism. I couldn’t do any more than I have done. I have given the maximum.”

Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister in 2011 after running the Italian economy into the ground, making way for a technocratic government.

His last few years in the country’s top job had been marred by allegations of corruption and tales of “bunga bunga” sex parties at his lavish villa outside Milan. He was accused of unlawful sex with 17-year-old nightclub dancer Ruby – “the Heart Stealer” – but was acquitted on appeal, after a troupe of starlets testified the evenings were merely “elegant dinners”.

After his ousting from politics, the former cruise ship crooner served a community service sentence in a retirement home, where he was in his element at bingo games and singalongs. But with the lifting of his exclusion from public office last year, the “Teflon don” saw a chance to return yet again to the political fray.

He declared his bid for European election in January, saying that “at the lovely age” of 82 he felt “a sense of responsibility to head for Europe, where there is a lack of deep thinking about the world”. Since then he has been working his mainstays of off-colour jokes and popular-appeal policies, including lower taxes and animal rights.

More at Independent