When the Czech President confessed that he was having an affair with an airline stewardess less than half his age, most of the country shrugged. Indeed, the nation's biggest newspaper said most people would be impressed and regard him as “a real man”.

After all, this was the third time that Václav Klaus, 66, had run off with a young, blonde flight attendant behind his wife's back. Nor was his behaviour out of keeping with other senior politicians. Mirek Topolánek, 51, the Prime Minister, has had a baby son with his 40-year-old girlfriend Lucie Talmanová and moved in with her, even though his wife is refusing to divorce. The leader of the opposition, Jirí Paroubek, 55, is not ideally placed to moralise since he, too, has left his wife and recently married his 34-year-old girlfriend Petra Kovácová, who was his personal translator on foreign trips.

Against this background, the President's latest infidelity has barely raised an eyebrow. His first indiscretion with a blonde stewardess — Eva Svobodová — was in 1991, when he was a rising political star of post-Communist Czechoslovakia. The second time was in 2002, this time with Klára Lohniská, 24, who worked on his official aircraft. Mr Klaus was philosophical: “If a man crosses the street on a red light, then he must be prepared to slip or be run over by a car,” he said. The morning after winning re-election last month, he was photographed with Petra Bednárová, 25, also a stewardess on the government aircraft, outside a hotel in Prague. He admitted the affair this week and confessed that it would be difficult to explain to his wife, Livia.

The revelation was met with little more than a sigh by Dnes (Today), the largest newspaper, which said: “The American saying "he cheated on his wife, he will cheat on his voters" does not apply here. A mistress is generally considered a sign of a real man.” Nor was there any condemnation from the populist daily Lidové Noviny (People's News). “Czechs have just shrugged their liberal shoulders,” it said.

Such a relaxed Central European attitude is in stark contrast with expectations of politicians in some of the northerly EU nations. This month Ilkka Kanerva, the Finnish Foreign Minister, was forced to quit for sending text messages to an erotic dancer.

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