FRANCE: Prime Minister Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin suffered yet another setback yesterday when Mr Dominique Ambiel, the man responsible for Mr Raffarin's public image, resigned as the government's chief communications adviser after being charged with soliciting an underage prostitute.
Mr Ambiel's arrest comes at the worst possible time for Mr Raffarin, when his popularity rating has reached the historic low of 33 per cent - less than one month after the French right was decimated in regional elections - in the run-up to elections for the European Parliament.
Under Mr Raffarin's aegis, the conservative government has strengthened measures against prostitution in the hope of stemming the influx of young women from eastern Europe.
Mr Ambiel (49) was stopped by the Paris crime brigade after a 17-year-old Romanian prostitute alighted from his car at 2: 30 a.m. on April 20th.
Before joining Mr Raffarin's cabinet when the right returned to power in May 2002, Mr Ambiel was one of France's best known television producers, and the inventor of "reality television" here.
One of the series he launched, entitled Seduction Island, tested the marital fidelity of four couples in a tropical paradise.
As the architect of Mr Raffarin's public image, Mr Ambiel played a role similar to that of the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair's former spokesman Mr Alistair Campbell. Mr Raffarin relied on him for more than media advice, and Mr Ambiel controlled access to the Prime Minister to such an extent that he was dubbed "the concierge".
He was disliked by some French journalists for his habit of telephoning editors to complain about unfavourable coverage.
In a statement to Le Monde acknowledging his resignation yesterday, Mr Ambiel said he was leaving "out of respect for the Prime Minister" and "to be able to express myself freely about the spiteful allegations arising from this incident".
Mr Ambiel, the French police and the prostitute provided different accounts of events.
The Prime Minister's adviser claimed he was returning to the office in the early hours of the morning to pick up a file when he saw two prostitutes fighting in a bus shelter. One of them jumped into his car, he claimed, babbling incomprehensibly.
He said he stopped 300 metres down the street to let her out.
When plain-clothes policemen happened on the scene, Mr Ambiel told them angrily that he did not need to pay €150 for sex, and that he was one of the Prime Minister's top advisers. He noted their police registration numbers in a threatening way.
In custody, the young woman told police that she knew Mr Ambiel well, and had seen him two or three times the previous week. She said they had gone to a hotel together, where he paid for their room with a credit card.
Mr Ambiel will appear in court on June 7th on charges of insulting the police and soliciting sexual relations from a minor in exchange for remuneration.
If convicted, he risks up to three years' imprisonment and a €45,000 fine.