Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian media tycoon and former prime minister, was found to have a minor heart complaint after he collapsed during an impassioned speech at a rally in Tuscany yesterday.

Mr Berlusconi, 70, was 40 minutes into an attack on the centre-left Government of Romano Prodi when he stumbled and paused, prompting fresh doubts about his political future. He is under pressure over a corruption trial and an inquiry by prosecutors into allegations that he tried to rig the general election in April.

In his speech he had just claimed that if anyone was guilty of electoral fraud it was the Left, when he said: “You must excuse me, emotion is getting the better of me.” He faltered, gripping the lectern for support. As he closed his eyes and started to fall, aides moved in to support him. Mr Berlusconi was carried off, but walked to a waiting car and was taken by helicopter from Montecatini Terme to hospital in Milan, where he was said by his spokesman to be feeling “much better”. He was kept overnight for observation.

The collapse, which was seen by millions on lunchtime news bulletins, will reinforce reports that Mr Berlusconi is nearing the end of a remarkable political career. Last week he went on trial in Milan for alleged fraud and money laundering with David Mills, the estranged husband of Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary.

At the weekend prosecutors in Rome began investigating claims by Diario, a left-wing journal, that blank and spoiled ballots were allocated by Interior Ministry computers to Forza Italia, Mr Berlusconi’s party. It said that Giuseppe Pisanu, the Interior Minister, foiled the attempted fraud.

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