Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, has died aged 86, his office confirmed. Berlusconi, who was a senator and leader of the right-wing Forza Italia party — a junior partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition government — was admitted to a Milan hospital last week.

A billionaire media and property tycoon-turned-politician, Berlusconi rose to the top of Italian politics in the 1990s, leading the country for close to a decade during three terms as prime minister.