Profile: Italy's firebrand minister

Bossi has turned his anger on many targets

When Umberto Bossi speaks, controversy is never far behind.

The tough-talking head of Italy's far-right Northern League brought down Mr Berlusconi's first government in 1994 and is threatening to do the same again.

Mr Bossi no longer wants independence for Northern Italy, but his views on many other key issues are just as controversial - and his way of expressing them is possibly unique among senior European government ministers.

I do not give a s*** about being a minister. On the contrary, it is nothing but a burder, a cage

Umberto Bossi in La Stampa

Now in his 60s, he remains prone to what was once described as "ranting in a gravelly voice" on any one of a number of issues.

His firebrand style has been variously deployed to attack senior government figures, the left, immigrants, gay people and the European Union.

A former rock singer, salesman and laboratory technician, he was once described by Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel as a "fascist".

Mr Bossi's reply was to label Mr Michel a "red Nazi".

One June 2003 interview with La Stampa newspaper displayed Mr Bossi's willingness to discuss politics in unusually frank terms.

His Northern League leaders, he said, were "p****d off" by a key election defeat.

If 1,000 illegal immigrants land only two days before the election, it is inevitable that people are going to tell us to 'p*** off'

Umberto Bossi in La Stampa

Voters, he added, would tell coalition partners to "p*** off" if illegation immigration continued.

And, he said, he did not give a "s***" about being a minister. It was, he said, a "burden, a cage".

In other comments, later denied by Mr Bossi, he reportedly said boatloads of illegal immigrants should be shot out of the water.

He was once reported to have suggested that a wall should be built along the entire Italian border with Slovenia to stem the flow of immigrants.

'Freemasons and communists'

It is not just illegal immigration which irks the third most senior figure in the Italian Government.

He has denounced the European Union as the "Soviet Union of the West", and as a nest of "freemasons and communist bankers".

One Italian comedian, Corrado Guzzanti, does an impression of Umberto Bossi as a Hannibal Lecter character gagged and bound - perhaps hinting at Mr Berlusconi's private wishes for his key ally.

Mr Bossi became renowned in the 1990s when he campaigned for total secession of northern Italy, which he called Padania.

He has now dropped that demand, but has denounced his coalition allies for watering down moves towards devolving power to the regions.

Conspiracy theorist

He is also a conspiracy theorist - alleging dirty tricks by everyone from Italian secret services to his political enemies.

He has accused his coalition partners of sabotaging local elections, claiming they prefer to see a left-winger than a Northern League representative.

Berlusconi has been brought down once by Bossi

Some correspondents see him as a man who retains a populist touch despite his apparent bull-in-a-china shop approach to political rhetoric.

Some portray him as a martyr-in-waiting, trying to blend the peaceful disobedience of Gandhi with the fiery resistance of Braveheart.

He and Mr Berlusconi certainly appear to be uncomfortable bedfellows.

The first time Mr Bossi walked out on a Berlusconi government it was only seven months after their alliance had been forged.

Their second marriage has lasted longer - but may still not be strong enough to allow Mr Berlusconi to realise his dream of lasting in office for a full term.