Carla Bruni sidesteps G8

I am breathing in the bracing air of the Abruzzo hills but as I write this Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the first lady of France, is not.

The demure Sarah Brown is here, and the funky Michelle Obama, but Carla Bruni – a former naked model – has not yet joined this year’s G8 festivities, in an apparent snub to the host, Silvio Berlusconi.

Mr Berlusconi knows a thing or two about naked models himself, judging from photographs of them cavorting in his Sardinian villa. But the present Mrs Sarkozy’s beautiful nose has apparently been put out of joint.

This is because Mr Berlusconi told the French president that he had given him the Italian-born Carla as a gift from Italy – and because Carla was reportedly horrified when Silvio commended Barack Obama on his “suntan”.

So Carla is having as little to do with Silvio as possible. “I am very happy to have become French”, she commented last November. The chanteuse to whom Mick Jagger once fell prey is apparently oblivious to the charms of the 72-year-old Casanova, who is so concerned about his looks that the prime minister’s advisers once asked an ITN cameraman (here with me today) to put a stocking over his lens – seemingly to soften the picture so that Silvio’s wrinkles would become less obvious.

Mr Berlusconi – whose hair thickness and colour becomes more miraculous by the day – held a press conference last night, if you can call it that, which you can’t. The Italian La Repubblica is reporting this morning that there were no microphones for the press to ask questions, and that when Silvio asked “are there any questions?” he ignored an eager reporter from the New York Times and walked out of the room.

Tonight the lovely Carla is scheduled to visit a camp of tents at San Demetrio inside the earthquake zone – not in the company of Silvio, but with the actor and fellow hearthrob, George Clooney. I gather Gordon Brown would also like to witness the destruction  – but if Silvio hears about that he’s likely to want to come along too and turn the whole thing into a domestic media opportunity, as he did with Barack Obama and Angela Merkel yesterday.

I don’t suppose you will read a word of this on Sarah Blown’s daily G8 blog but, never let it be said that Channel 4 News takes the high ground and ignores the latest hot gossip. Speaking of hot, I’ll blog about climate change later.

After that he took his fellow G8 leaders to a concert of classical music last night, where he was seen conducting the orchestra from his seat, even though the actual conductor was doing a perfectly good job.

The Italian Ansa news agency is reporting that the Italian premier didn’t go to bed till 2am, presumably on his own as his wife says she is divorcing him over the attention he has paid to an 18-year-old girl.

Mr Berlusconi was kept up late, not by the attentions of a teenage starlet, but by the flagpoles outside the spartan police barracks where this summit is taking place.

Beneath each flagpole there is apparently a loudspeaker playing the national anthem of each country, and Mr Berlusconi was seen singing along to each.

A rogue, but loveable in his way, which is surely why the Italians haven’t dumped him.