The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, might have insisted he had no desire to "return to the age of Victorian hypocrisy about sex". But the tabloids, and some Tories, reacted with predictable glee to the weekend news that the marriage of the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, had ended.
News of the Mr Cook's marriage break-up came in a statement read out on the doorstep of his London home. Mr Cook said he was leaving his wife, Margaret, after 28 years of marriage, and that the responsibility "is entirely mine".
It was the latest round of damage-limitation the government had found necessary following its defeat at the Uxbridge by-election and Tory allegations of sleaze involving the businessman-turned-Cabinet Minister, Lord Simon.
As details became clear about Mr Cook's marriage break-up and his relationship with his Commons secretary, Mrs Gaynor Regan, the vice-chairman of the Tory Party, Mr Alan Duncan, accused Labour of "double standards" over MPs' private lives. In a direct attack on the Minister without Portfolio, Mr Peter Mandelson, he condemned Labour's attempt to smear former Tory ministers during the Uxbridge by-election by referring to their "personal indiscretions" in a campaign leaflet. "Whenever it was a Conservative minister in a similar predicament, the likes of Peter Mandelson would get a lot of people to do their dirty work, to try and condemn it and cause us embarrassment," Mr Duncan said. However, while news of Mr Cook's marital problems have come during a difficult week for the government, Mr Blair's handling of the situation has been in marked contrast to the way the Tories were caught out following the disastrous "back to basics" policy.
Mr Blair's statement supporting Mr Cook, describing him as a "truly outstanding Foreign Secretary," has been viewed as putting a lid on any allegations of personal sleaze or calls for Mr Cook's resignation.
With Mr Blair's support and that of his constituency officials in Livingston, who said they were "sad" that the marriage had ended but would "fully support Robin", Mr Cook and his wife might get their wish to have their privacy respected at what they described as "a very painful time".
Meanwhile, Mr Mandelson launched his own counter-attack on the Tories. He was forced to defend Lord Simon, the Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe, against mounting Tory claims that his ownership of £2 million in BP shares represents a conflict of interest. Mr Mandelson said the claims pointed to a "very unpleasant, unattractive, hypocritical barrage of smears and innuendo".
It was not enough, he insisted, for the Tories to engage in spite, but they had to "scrabble around for nasty personal issues", on which to attack the government.
For his part, the leader of the Conservative Party, Mr William Hague, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, accused Labour of developing a "sanctimoniousness and a self-righteousness" in government which "makes it hard for them to see where they are going wrong".