Silvio Berlusconi rewarded young showgirls and starlets with cars, rent-free apartments and jobs in politics, a lawyer for one of his protégés has admitted in court for the first time.

Pier Maria Corso was speaking on behalf of Nicole Minetti, 25, an Anglo-Italian former showgirl who has been accused of recruiting 32 young women as prostitutes for the prime minister’s so-called “bunga bunga” parties.

He told the court in Milan that Miss Minetti was “absolutely not a brothel keeper”, saying she was simply one of “many girls” who were part of the media tycoon’s inner circle and had benefited from his largesse.

Miss Minetti, whose mother is British, was working as a model and television starlet when she was plucked from obscurity by Mr Berlusconi and propelled into politics as a councillor for his People of Freedom party in Lombardy’s regional assembly.

She is accused of being in charge of a stable of 32 models and aspiring actresses, allocating them apartments paid for by Mr Berlusconi and despatching them to sex parties at his mansion at Arcore, a town outside Milan…

“There are those who were given a Land Rover, those who got a Smart car, those who received an apartment in the city centre and those who were elected to a regional assembly. “To be elected in this way is not a crime,” he said.

Yes, puritanism is a curse. One we specialize in – along with other hypocrisies – here in the United States. But, placing your government in the hands of an old lecher whose priorities are governed more by lust than public need – is just plain idiotic.