ITALIAN Five Star Movement chief Luigi Di Maio praised far-right League leader Matteo Salvini today after they cobbled together a deal to split important parliamentary posts.

Mr Di Maio told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that Mr Salvini “has proved he keeps his word” and said he wouldn’t rule out coalition talks with parliament’s right-wing bloc, of which the League is the largest party.

The rightwingers also include convicted fraudster Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. It is the second-largest of the group and provided the candidate for president of the Senate, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, the first woman to hold that position.