(07.06.) Scotti, a stalwart of Silvio Berlusconi‘s Mediaset TV empire, was mentioned this week by the former premier as a possible leader of his centre-right PDL party, shell-shocked after its local election beating last month by maverick comedian Beppe Grillo.

Grillo‘s breakthrough has spread something approaching panic through the mainstream parties, already reduced to a supporting role, providing parliamentary backing for Prime Minister Mario Monti‘s technocrat government.