MPs have rejected a change in parliament's rules that they feared would allow a Westminster sleaze watchdog to investigate their private lives.
The House of Commons had been asked to approve a revised code of conduct for MPs on Monday that would have expanded the power of the parliamentary commissioner for standards.
The proposals would have allowed them to sanction MPs whose personal behaviour "significantly damages the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole or of its Members generally".
However the was rejected by both the coalition and Labour front benches as well as very vocal backbenchers.
Tory MP Charles Walker said the "proposed intrusion into members’ private and personal lives is a step too far" and would give license to the media to unfairly hound politicians for what they did behind closed doors.
"I wracked my brain to try and imagine scenarios in Members’ private lives that would trigger the interest of the commissioner, and I could only come up with two topics: the bedroom and the bottle," he said.
"In common with most people, these are the two weaknesses that seem most likely to compromise Members of Parliament in their private lives."
At present the commissioner is tasked with investigating breaches of Commons rules such as the parliamentary expenses regime.
Walker added: "Every sexual peccadillo, domestic dispute or unguarded cross word would lead to tabloid calls for the commissioner to take action—'Something must be done', the headlines will cry."
"It is in the nature of our job—this vocation—that if these mistakes are large enough, they will be picked up and reported by the press, with all the opprobrium, shame and upset that goes with having our private calamities played out on a national stage."
Walker said the commissioner should concern himself with politicians failing in their job as MPs rather than their "general human weakness or stupidity".
The Broxbourne MP's view was supported by both the government and the Labour front bench.
Sir George Young, the leader of the Commons, said he was concerned any extension of the commissioners powers into to private lives might lead to an infringement of human rights.
And he said it would be used by the media to justify a "intrusive and prurient" interest in MPs private lives.
Angela Eagle, Labour's shadow leader of the Commons, said the proposed rule change would "turn the code of conduct into a code of morals".
Eagle said judgements on the moral behaviour of MPs was up to the voters at the ballot box not a Westminster watchdog.