David Cameron declared his "100% support" for William Hague today, as the foreign secretary said he had decided to speak out about his private life because he could no longer put up with allegations about his sexuality.
Hague also received the backing of his local constituency party chair after issuing a statement yesterday in which he denied having had an "improper" relationship with his special adviser, Christopher Myers, who resigned as a result of the "pressure" put on his family due to the "untrue and malicious allegations" circulating on the internet.
At a press conference this morning with the German foreign minster, Guido Westerwelle, Hague refused to be drawn on his decision to appoint Myers, or respond to the suggestion that he had exercised "poor judgment" in sharing a hotel room with his assistant.
Downing Street said today that Hague enjoyed Cameron's full support, after the foreign secretary denied having had any relationships with men and revealed details about his wife's miscarriages to dispel rumours that he had made an "improper" appointment in hiring Myers.
Government sources stressed that the statement was Hague's idea and that it was fully supported by his wife. But Andy Coulson, the Downing Street director of communications, was said to have been heavily involved.
At the press conference, Hague said: "Yesterday, I made a very personal statement, which was not an easy thing to do. I am not going to expand on that today. My wife and I really felt we had had enough of the circulation of untrue allegations, particularly on the internet, and at some point you have to speak out about that and put the record straight."
Asked to comment on a claim made by fellow Tory MP, John Redwood, that he had exercised "poor judgment" in sharing a room with his assistant, Hague insisted that the work of the Foreign Office "has not missed a beat, and will not miss a beat, at any stage. I have not spent many minutes away from all duties of the foreign secretary."
Questioned about Myers's eligibility for the job, Hague claimed this had been covered in his statement of yesterday. However, that statement made no mention of why he had given Myers the job despite already having two special advisers.
There had been unease in Downing Street at Hague's judgment in appointing a 25-year-old graduate with little apparent expertise in foreign affairs.
But asked today whether Hague continued to have the support of Cameron, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said that he was not making any new statement on the issue but had given the foreign secretary his full backing throughout.
The spokeswoman said: "We have always given William our 100% support. That was the case yesterday and it is the case today.
"The prime minister totally understands why William made the statement he did and he backs him 100%."
Ed Balls, one of the candidates for Labour leader, sympathised with the Hagues, but said he did not think making the statement was the "wisest" way to respond to the internet rumours.
Balls said that together with his wife, shadow work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper, he had "put up with" smears and lies from rightwing blogs rather than respond publicly.
The shadow education secretary told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show: "I'm not sure whether going out and making a public statement in that detail is the wisest thing to do. I think it probably gives more credibility to some of these websites and to allegations which aren't true.
"I've no reason to think that there's anything other than complete integrity in what William Hague says and I feel sorry for him and for Ffion in going through this."
Hague's decision to issue a statement was described as "very brave" by Christopher Bourne-Arton, the chair of the Conservative Association in his North Yorkshire constituency of Richmond.
Bourne-Arton told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "Rumour has been created by somebody who makes a living out of blogging and has nothing better to do and so he had to nail it once and for all. The tragedy is that it was made necessary by this media feeding frenzy."
Hague confirmed yesterday that Myers had resigned as a result of the "pressure" put on his family due to the "untrue and malicious allegations made about him".
In his statement Hague said: "Any suggestion that his appointment was due to an improper relationship between us is utterly false, as is any suggestion that I have ever been involved in a relationship with any man."
Hague admitted to "occasionally" sharing hotel rooms with Myers during the election campaign.
But he added: "Neither of us would have done so if we had thought that it in any way meant or implied something else. In hindsight, I should have given greater consideration to what might have been made of that, but this is in itself no justification for allegations of this kind, which are untrue and deeply distressing to me, to Ffion and to Christopher."
Hague acknowledged that releasing the statement would cause "distress" for their families but insisted he had to reveal the "straightforward truth".
Myers was employed by Hague during the general election campaign as a constituency aide and had worked for the foreign secretary as a policy adviser on a salary reported to be £30,000.