The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has repeated his opposition to privacy laws, and his preference for self-regulation by the media, in face of a fresh storm over press freedom caused by his Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine.
In an interview for today's New Statesman magazine, Lord Irvine backs a "prior restraint" clause obliging newspapers to show a public-interest justification before publishing stories involving a breach of privacy.
To the clear embarrassment of Mr Blair's government, the Lord Chancellor acknowledges that such a privacy code would have prevented the media's disclosure of the break-up of the Foreign Secretary's marriage, or Mr Robin Cook's relationship with Ms Gaynor Regan.
Mr Blair moved smartly to distance himself from Lord Irvine's comments as the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission warned of a potential "blow to press freedom" and the Tory leader, Mr William Hague, denounced an "extraordinary campaign" to clamp down on scrutiny of the government.
At the start of his Washington visit, Mr Blair made it clear through his official spokesman that there would be no privacy law, either formal or informal.
The spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is absolutely convinced that self-regulation is and should remain the cornerstone of media regulation. Nothing Lord Irvine says changes that.
"There is no desire for a privacy law by the front door or the back door. The objective is to strengthen self-regulation."
In his interview, Lord Irvine says: "Where the press have to consider carefully their position is where they interfere in the privacy of individuals and are incapable of invoking a legitimate public-interest defence. In these cases, the public would not be supportive of the ideals of a free press."
And in the case of Mr Cook, the Lord Chancellor says: "Robin Cook is a public figure. On the other hand, I'm not aware that he has ever lectured anyone about moral values."
However, the PCC chairman, Lord Wakeham, said last night that a system of prior restraint could only benefit public figures who had prior knowledge that an investigation relating to them was under way, "indeed, just the sort of people that it is the duty of the press to scrutinise in the public interest".
He continued: "There is a principle involved here, that prior restraint would inevitably be used by those with something to hide that they wanted to cover up. It would be of no practical use to ordinary people and is, therefore, a device which the public should look upon only with scepticism."
Seizing on the government's embarrassment, Mr Hague said power had "gone to the heads" of the government.
"The news that the Lord Chancellor believes writing stories about Robin Cook's behaviour as Foreign Secretary should be against the law is the culmination of an extraordinary campaign by the government.
"Not content with a huge majority in the House of Commons, the government now seems to be arguing that they should not be subject to any scrutiny at all," said Mr Hague.