Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s billionaire prime minister accused of corruption by a panel of judges this week, responded fiercely on Thursday by branding them left-wing “extremists” within a diseased system.

Mr Berlusconi took the stage at the annual assembly of the Confindustria business lobby to attack the judiciary in front of a 2,000-strong audience that included his cabinet ministers, opposition politicians, foreign ambassadors and the cream of Italian industry.