A 'magic circle' around the ailing leader was controlling the party purse strings, writes PADDY AGNEWin Rome
LAST FRIDAY, in the midst of the corruption tempest that has engulfed his party, Northern League leader Umberto Bossi emerged from his villa in Gemonio, Lombardy.
Waiting for him on the miserable, rainy day were a number of reporters and at least one TV crew from the La7 channel.
Given that Mr Bossi had resigned as party leader the day before and that his party remains caught up in a serious crisis, it was to be expected that there would be reporters waiting to fire questions at him.
On seeing them, Mr Bossi’s reaction was a typical “f**k off”.
He then turned to his police escort and, pointing at the reporters, ordered the escort to “chase them off” and then “run them down”, an order to which the escort paid no attention.
It was as if, as far as the policemen were concerned, these were merely the barely coherent ramblings of someone best ignored. When La7 showed the incident on its primetime evening news bulletin, Italian subtitles were used for Mr Bossi’s interventions. It is not always easy to understand the ailing 70-year-old Mr Bossi’s speech.
Since he suffered a serious stroke in 2004, Mr Bossi has been a physically much-reduced figure, painfully slow in his movements, so unsure on his feet that he likes to walk with his hand on the arm of a trusted confidant, and so cryptic and slurred in his speech that it is often hard to understand him. Indeed, for much of the past six years, Mr Bossi has saved his energy and tended to respond to reporters with a variety of unparliamentary gestures.
As the scandal that prompted him to resign last week broke, one long-suspected truth appears to have emerged.
As the league finds itself accused of money laundering for the ’Ndrangheta (Calabrian Mafia), of questionable investments and of making as much as €3.5 million in public funds available for the private use of the Bossi family, it seems clear that Mr Bossi himself has long since lost control of his party. Though he is still wheeled out for propaganda purposes, a “magic circle” around him has been controlling the purse strings. It seems that Mr Bossi was unaware of the amount of party money being made available to his son Renzo, who resigned his position as a Lombardy regional councillor on Monday.
The party faithful is reportedly furious. While many remain loyal to Mr Bossi, they feel he has been betrayed by the likes of his wife, Manuela, and the deputy speaker of the Italian senate, Rosy Mauro, the two key figures in the “magic circle”. Ms Mauro is expected to resign shortly, apparently under pressure from Mr Bossi.
As the league attempts to regroup, the question is being asked: was it wise to insist that the ailing Mr Bossi continue to lead from the front?
In full health, Mr Bossi was often guilty of unacceptable xenophobia. In recent times, he has been guilty of inarticulate prejudice masquerading as “federalism”. The league’s non-celebration of Italian unification last year was the latest example of his slogan-driven politics, based on the invention of the mythical “Padania” (northern Italy).
If he is now leaving the political stage, will “Padania” survive without him? We have our doubts.