Umberto Bossi, a key ally of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apologised yesterday for calling Rome’s inhabitants “pigs”, avoiding a Parliament vote on a motion to censure him.

“I apologise to the citizens (of Rome) if I offended someone,” Mr Bossi said as he left the Senate, assuring that he had only meant his comments as a joke, and complained that he was the victim of “political instrumentalisation”.

On Sunday the leader of the Northern League party, Berlusconi’s chief coalition partner, had suggested the motto for the city of Rome, “The Senate and the Roman People” should be replaced.

“I have had enough with ‘Senatus Populusque Romanus’,” he said in a speech, “I say: these Romans are pigs.”

Mr Bossi had also said he opposed moving the Formula 1 Grand Prix from the northern town of Monza to Rome.

“Romans can always run – hands off Monza and in Rome they can do the chariot race,” he said, alluding to one of the favourite sports in Ancient Rome.

Mr Bossi’s remarks provoked widespread criticism across Italy, with the left-wing opposition calling for a vote on a motion to censure the minister that, if adopted, could have forced him to quit his position.

However, Dario Franceschini, chairman of the Democratic Party, announced yesterday that the motion had been retracted following Bossi’s apology.