And when the centre-left won the 1996 election, it was he who put Mr Prodi in charge.
It was he who united Wendo with Bowane, a 20-year-old genius with a band called Victoria Coquilhatville.
It was he who announced the action to his ministers during an unusual cabinet meeting held late Friday night.
And it was he who finally found a way through Ramdin, with a ball that jagged down the hill.
It was he who first established contact with the outside world on August 22, 17 days after the mine collapsed.
It was he who announced the closure of the News of the World amid public fury about the paper's tactics.
It was he who scored a precious equalizer with 13 minutes remaining to take the tie into extra-time and eventually came penalties.
But it was he who seized control when, after 1970, the EEC started sending its surplus milk powder and butter oil to India.
It was he who first came up with the giant-wave explanation for the layers of sediment between the glass globules and the iridium.
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Egyptian writers like Mahfouz had attempted novel writing, but it was he who mastered it and brought it to maturity in the Arabic language.
De la Hoya, on the other hand, was given a rapturous welcome, and it was he who came out of the blocks the fastest.
And when questions were asked in the media, an unidentified Pistorius friend said it was he who brought the gun to the restaurant, not Pistorius.
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It was he who approached Mr Buffett last year and he did it the way the Nebraska investment guru likes best, with a short, to-the-point letter.
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It was he who encouraged her to argue at the dinner table (conduct frowned on at the Convent of the Faithful Virgin, where she went to school).
It was he who first introduced to football an idea that is now virtually de rigueur for all successful teams - the "holding" midfielder in front of the defence.
It was he who perfected the kettle thermostat, the bimetallic strip which ensures our kettle switches off once it has boiled merrily for a few seconds, rather than boiling dry.
It was he who coined the procurement mantra FIST (Fast, Inexpensive, Simple and Tiny) to "describe a particular pattern of decision making in procurement that aims to support rapid, low cost innovation".
Those close to him say it was he who urged Fidel to legalise the dollar in the desperate months after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's main supporter, in the early 1990s.
When he came to office after years as a federal prosecutor (it was he who busted Michael Milken in the 1980s), Mr Giuliani swiftly realised that New York's government was gridlocked by party machinery.
Dobbie, meanwhile, continued to pose a threat for Swansea and it was he who almost grabbed the second goal the home side craved when Steele tipped his close-range shot around a post after 71 minutes.
In response to the debate, Environment minister Stewart Stevenson said the role of SNH was only to advise but it was he who had "the power to protect local interests" and he would exercise that power.
Paolo Baratta is the president of the Biennale, and it was he who first sought out Gioni to take on this year's show, developing the curator's concept for the exhibition and helping insure its approval by the Biennale board.
It was he who divided the cans of tuna that helped keep the men alive until they were discovered, and it was he who organized the 32 others into three work shifts and pored over diagrams that helped rescuers plan the men's escape.
Not surprisingly, Juan Miguel has made it clear that, for the time being, he wants nothing to do with the Miami relatives, whom he accuses of betraying his trust (when Elian was rescued at sea last November, it was he who telephoned them to ask them to look after his child).
In fact, Franklin never explicitly says that it was he himself who performed the experiment.
It was not he who set up Olivetti's vastly successful mobile-telephone business, Omnitel Pronto Italia, but his predecessor.
Saints scrum-half Long will be leaving Knowsley Road this winter after 12 influential years with the club and it was he again who produced a big contribution in a big match.
The Oracle at Delphi saw the true nature of Socrates, telling him that he was the wisest man in Athens not because he knew it all but because he was the only one who knew that he did not know.
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