A British cabinet minister resigned yesterday in the first ministerial scandal to tarnish the Labour government, after admitting a nocturnal incident with a man in a London park.
Mr Ron Davies, the Welsh Secretary, told the Prime Minister's office he had begun talking with a man late on Monday on Clapham Common and agreed to drive him to meet two friends and have a meal at his flat.
"Shortly afterwards the man produced a knife and together with his male companion robbed me and stole my car, leaving me standing at the roadside," said Mr Davies in a letter to his leader, Mr Tony Blair.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mr Davies explicitly denied the incident was linked to any kind of sexual encounter, but this has only fanned the flames of speculation.
Mr Davies is the first Labour cabinet minister to resign since the party came to power in May 1997.
The Welsh minister had been the Labour Party's candidate for first secretary of the new devolved assembly for Wales.
Mr Blair expressed "a real sense of sadness" and said: "Given the situation you described, I accept your decision to resign."
After years of Conservative sex scandals, Mr Blair's Labour administration has made a determined effort to avoid such embarrassing public fiascos.
Last year his Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, was forced to admit an adulterous affair, but Mr Blair gave the minister "100 per cent support".
Mr Cook later married his mistress.
Mr Davies said in his letter, and also in television interviews yesterday, he had committed a "serious lapse of judgment".
He said he had lost his personal belongings and his car in the robbery.
"In allowing myself to be placed in this situation, with people I had never met and about whom I knew nothing, I did something very foolish. That is a serious lapse of judgment on my part," Mr Davies said.
"The whole incident will inevitably cause embarrassment not only to me and the government, but most important, to my family."
His ministerial post has been filled by Mr Alun Michael, former home office minister, Downing Street said.