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Gordon Brown faced claims government discipline is breaking down after refusing to reprimand a Cabinet minister and a ministerial aide who went off-message.
To the consternation of loyalist MPs, Downing Street declined to comment on the conduct of a senior aide to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, who attacked his boss's attempts to reform compensation for wounded troops as "bonkers" and "profoundly wrong".
Eric Joyce was said to be escaping with no more than a slapped wrist for his remarks. He even said that if the Ministry of Defence managed to cut compensation in two test cases, it would be "a victory for bureaucracy over bravery".
At the same time, Cabinet minister Peter Hain infuriated colleagues by flatly contradicting the Home Secretary over the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon.
Although Alan Johnson staged a weekend fightback saying the extradition laws were fair, Mr Hain said laws between Britain and the US were one-sided. Wishing the hacker "good luck", Mr Hain said: "It is much easier to be extradited from Britain to the US than it is for people to be extradited from the US to Britain." Downing Street refused to criticise either man, despite the doctrine of collective responsibility that says a minister or aide wishing to speak out against government policy should resign.
Some ministers voiced frustration. One told the Standard: "It is hard to say Joyce should be sacked if Peter Hain can contradict the Home Secretary without any punishment."
The Conservatives said it showed a government in decline. Frontbencher Greg Hands said: "A Labour minister calls his boss bonkers. Peter Hain openly attacks the Home Secretary. Gordon Brown's ministers seem to be losing the will to govern."
Mr Joyce, a former Black Watch major, was commenting on a High Court case brought by the MoD to challenge rulings which increased the payouts to two injured soldiers.
Mr Joyce said the public gives politicians "a lot of rope", but added: "Where we get the moral call profoundly wrong on a matter of how we treat our astonishingly brave service personnel, we'll find ourselves dangling at the end of it."
Mr Ainsworth last week ended his holiday to order a review of the compensation schemes be speeded up.
