Matteo Salvini, Italy’s hard-line interior minister, has come under fire for using a phrase that was made popular by Benito Mussolini during the Fascist era.

Responding to criticism that he was fomenting xenophobia and racism with his anti-immigrant rhetoric, Mr Salvini wrote on Twitter: “Many enemies, much honour”.

The words he used in Italian – “Tanti nemici, tanto onore” – were almost identical to one of Mussolini’s well-known sayings - “Molti nemici, molto onore”.

Mussolini’s motto can still be seen in a Fascist-era sports complex in Rome, the Foro Italico, where they appear in a marble mosaic.

The fact that the minister cited the phrase on Sunday, the anniversary of Mussolini’s birth, only made it more inflammatory.