Britain is a country in a sorry decline overshadowed at every turn by Italy, where even the renaissance of the English football team is down to the miracle of Italian management.

That is the verdict of Il Giornale, the newspaper that is part of Silvio Berlusconi’s media empire, which ran pages of criticism yesterday under the headline: “Dear Brits, we’ve beaten you at everything and it’s time you realised it.”

The attack on all things British comes after weeks of revelations about the Italian Prime Minister’s sexually charged antics, much of which he claims have been fabricated as part of an elaborate plot, which incorporated elements of the British press including The Times, to destabilise him.

“We’re talking about the country that many people still consider to be a beacon of journalism, politics, economics and sport,” it added. “But Great Britain is no longer great.”

The attack appears to be an attempt to capitalise on Mr Berlusconi’s hosting of the G8 summit last week before any more allegations about his private life emerge.

Opposition MPs demanded yesterday that Mr Berlusconi appear before Parliament to explain allegations of escort girls at his parties.

La Repubblica, one of the newspapers at the forefront of the revelations about Mr Berlusconi, said yesterday that his behaviour was “in total contradiction with the values of God and family which he proclaims in public”, as well as with a draft law for “severe punishments for those who organise prostitution and for those who have sex with prostitutes”.

Mr Berlusconi has denied that he has ever paid a woman for sex.

Supporters of the Prime Minister blame the allegations on a conspiracy between the Italian Left and the foreign media.

In a front-page editorial Il Giornale attacked Britain’s political management and handling of the economic crisis. It went on to compare British industry, crime rates, immigration, fashion, tourism and the media unfavourably with Italy’s.

It said that the British press — including newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, the parent company of The Times — had lost its reputation by fabricating stories, including predictions of chaos at the G8 summit.

Il Giornale called Britain the most violent nation in Europe but argued that crime figures in Italy had fallen consistently thanks to tough legislation.

Even Premier League football came for a drubbing: “They have super-rich teams with champion players . . . but their most famous players are nearly all foreign and the national team has been in deep water for several years now. Things are so bad that they had to entrust the team to Fabio Capello, Italian miracle worker.”

• Roberto Ruggiero, a lawyer acting for Angela Sozio, 36, a former Big Brother contestant in Italy who featured in photographs taken at the Sardinian villa of Mr Berlusconi two years ago, denied a report in The Times in June that she had been questioned by prosecutors in Bari. He said that she had nothing to do with the investigation.

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