Silvio Berlusconi, scandal-ridden former Italian prime minister, dies aged 86

Health of flamboyant media tycoon who led three Italian governments had deteriorated in recent years

• Silvio Berlusconi - a life in pictures

Allies and critics have paid tribute to the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, his country's longest-serving postwar leader and one of its most divisive, who has died aged 86.

The billionaire media tycoon and former AC Milan owner who entered politics at the head of his own Forza Italia in the 1990s as the traditional parties of the right collapsed led three governments between 1994 and 2011 and succeeded in making a comeback in 2017 despite a career tainted by sex scandals, allegations of corruption and a tax fraud conviction.