ISLAMABAD  - A contempt of court conviction is just the latest in a series of crises to beset Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who came to power with a reputation as a consensus politician.The Supreme Court found Gilani guilty of contempt on Thursday over his refusal to write to Swiss authorities asking them to reopen corruption probes into President Asif Ali Zardari.He was given only a nominal custodial sentence but the case could pave the way for proceedings to disqualify him as a lawmaker. The last two years have seen Pakistan suffer the worst floods in its history, a plunge in relations with the US after the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and the so-called “memogate” scandal.A former cabinet minister and parliamentary speaker who once spent five years in jail, Gilani joined the Pakistan People’s Party in 1988 under the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto.But it was only after the PPP won elections for a third time in 2008, following its leader’s assassination in late 2007, that Gilani unexpectedly won a race to fill the power vacuum left by the charismatic Bhutto. Out-ranked by Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s widower and co-chairman of the party, Gilani showed his mettle in March 2009 when he was credited with averting a major crisis by mediating between the presidency and the opposition.His government suffered heavy criticism over its handling of massive floods in 2010 and 2011 that affected more than 18 million people and caused extensive damage to housing, infrastructure and crops.Gilani has been considered close to armed forces but in late 2011 he criticised the military over a memo scandal threatening Zardari. Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani was forced to resign over claims that he was involved in drafting a secret memo trying to enlist US help to curb the power of the military.Gilani has also been under pressure over Pakistan’s relations with the United States, which went into freefall last year over the bin Laden raid and a NATO air strike near the border with Afghanistan that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Born on June 9, 1952 in Karachi, Gilani is the son of an influential landowning family from Multan. He was educated at elite Christian-run schools.His family has a long heritage as guardians of shrines and his father was an MP, but in country’s feudal hierarchy they lacked the trappings of wealth and power enjoyed by the Bhuttos and other top PPP clans.He served as a minister under military dictator Ziaul Haq.