Far-right Italians deliver embarrassment to UK Royal Mail

The Royal Mail is considering legal action against a far-Right party in Italy that plans to sell British stamps bearing the face of its leader next to the Queen’s head.

To the embarrassment of the Post Office, the Northern League, a populist right-wing party in Italy’s coalition Government, announced that it was to sell Royal Mail stamps bearing not only the head of the Queen but also the face of Umberto Bossi, its leader.

The Northern League, which campaigns for a breakaway north Italian state called “Padania”, had used a Royal Mail service that allows customers to customise stamps, and ordered a batch bearing the image of Signor Bossi. The service, known as “Smilers”, was intended as a novelty to allow customers to put pictures of their children or pets on stamps to brighten up greetings cards. The first class “Bossi” stamps are not valid in Italy but can be used on letters sent within or from Britain.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Mail said yesterday that the rules of the service prohibit “lewd” or political images being used on the stamps. She told The Times that the Italian stamps “slipped through the net” because the Royal Mail did not recognise Bossi or the name of the party. “We are looking into what legal action we can take,” she said.

Under the scheme, which costs Pounds 14.95 for a batch of 20, the stamps are printed with the face of the customer or a “favourite image”, alongside a greeting such as “Best Wishes”. The stamps can be ordered by post or on line.

However, Italian newspapers yesterday reported that the stamps were “issued” by the Post Office. “Great Britain dedicates a stamp to Bossi” ran the headline in Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by Paolo Berlusconi, brother of the Prime Minister.

It said that the stamps would become collectors’ items, and had been greeted with “mystical ecstasy” by Northern League leaders.