Premier Silvio Berlusconi dismissed reports on Thursday that he and House Speaker Gianfranco Fini were ready to part company after his ally was caught saying the premier acts like "an absolute monarch". Fini made what he believed were private, off-the-cuff remarks to a prosecutor during a public meeting in November not knowing that his microphone was already switched on.

The recording was dug up and published by Rome left-leaning daily La Repubblica on Tuesday, causing a storm within the majority People of Freedom (PdL) party and prompting Il Giornale, a paper owned by Berlusconi's brother, to call for Fini's resignation as Speaker. Berlusconi told reporters he was not "in competition" with Fini and denied reports by some dailies, including Il Giornale, that he no longer wanted "to see" the speaker.

"I'm upset that the press continues to publish things that not only I haven't said but that I haven't even thought of". Fini's private remarks included comments on leaked allegations by a Mafia turncoat and state witness which linked the premier to Cosa Nostra bombs in 1993, saying they were ''a real atom bomb''. Hours after the remarks were published, Fini called a television talk show, making clear that he thought ''Berlusconi has nothing to do with the Mafia''. But he did not renege comments about Berlusconi's autocratic style and stressed that though the premier has a right to continue governing because of the wide popular mandate he was given in the 2008 general elections he must also "respect parliament and the judiciary bodies''. Fini has increasingly distanced himself from Berlusconi since being elected Speaker and he has irked key PdL ally, the Northern League, with his liberal-minded stance on immigration and voting rights for immigrants.

The Northern League is a strong supporter of Italy's recent push-back immigration policy agreed with Libya, while Fini has stressed the importance of respecting asylum rights and proposed citizenship for legal immigrants. Northern League leader Umberto Bossi has accused Fini of being ''crazy''. The speaker and his loyalists have in turn taken issue with the premier's regular weekly consultations with Bossi, saying that the League leader was seeing Berlusconi more than his own party allies. Nevertheless, one of Fini's closest aides, the deputy House Whip for the PdL, Italo Bocchini, has said that Fini and Berlusconi would not part ways because over the last 15 years they had ''changed the political scene in Italy''.

Berlusconi and Fini have been close allies since 1994, when the media magnate decided to step into politics, although Fini once formed a separate election alliance that did not win over voters. Earlier this year Fini officially merged his National Alliance party with Berlusconi's Forza Italia to form the PdL. Fini, however, has repeatedly voiced displeasure with the way the PdL is run, calling for more democracy, and complaining that the premier is caving in to Bossi and the Northern League on a number of issues. More than 50 ex-AN members of the PdL recently wrote a public letter to Berlusconi proposing a ''permanent consultation pact'' between the two PdL co-founders to prevent the party ''short-circuiting'' and fling open policy debate to all sides. Fini has also come under repeated fire from Il Giornale and two months ago he decided to sue its editor, Vittorio Feltri. Feltri has penned a number of front-page editorials, accusing Fini of ''betraying'' the PdL, of playing ''comrade'' to win support among centre left MPs for his political ambitions, warning him to change tack or leave.

The premier has said he has no control over Feltri and has no prior information on the editorials. In a scathing editorial on Thursday, Feltri said his doubts over Fini's loyalty had been confirmed and urged Berlusconi to "dump him".