THERE was reported delight last night in Wapping, home of Britain's Euro-sceptic press, at the sensational news of the fall of Mr Oskar Lafontaine. It may prove misplaced.
Few in this country had heard of the German Finance Minister until shortly before Christmas, when he hit the headlines with his proposals, not just for the harmonisation of taxes across Europe, but also for the abolition of the veto on tax harmonisation.
"The most dangerous man in Europe" had arrived, much to the relief of a Euro-sceptic press, despairing of the Tory Party's ability to land a punch on Mr Blair even as he moved ever more steadily toward an embrace of British membership of the European Single Currency.
In an instant, "Red Oskar" was established a worthy successor to Mr Jacques Delors as Britain's favourite European bogeyman.
And in an instant Mr Blair appeared undone - left struggling to balance his "heart of Europe" ambitions with dire warnings to his supposed centre-left allies to keep their hands off Britain's tax regimes.
The initial panic saw ministers reaching for the "veto" button in full Thatcherite battle-cry. The British Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, we learned, had simply told his German counterpart to "get lost". Just days before, Mr Brown had proclaimed he was "winning the argument that the way forward for Europe is through economic reform and not tax harmonisation".
A spokesman for the Prime Minister was a good deal more direct: "Not a cat in hell's chance," was his considered verdict.
Mr Blair's official spokesman subsequently tried to recover the situation, insisting this was "a story in large part about Germany itself". Mr Oskar Lafontaine, so the line ran (and accurately as it would prove), was a loose cannon, as much an embarrassment to Mr Gerhard Schroder as to Mr Tony Blair himself.
But by then the cat was seemingly out of the bag, the tabloids leading the flight to the fiscal beaches. FO "Foxtrot Oskar" warned the Sun, as the Daily Mail and others rounded on Mr Blair's "fantasy" that he could avoid "the nasty parts" of the single currency.
Even the pro-European Guardian announced Mr Blair's European "showdown" and the arrival of his "moment of truth".
How the Euro-sceptics must have wished; how, too, they must have hoped that - as Mr Blair's government moved ever closer to a commitment to joining the euro, much, much more would be heard of Oskar. And how misplaced then, perhaps, their apparent immediate delight at his departure.
There was no obvious outbreak of regret inside 10 Downing Street. Relations with the German government, it was said, would continue to be strong.
Indeed - with the euro likely to rise against sterling, so bringing relief to British exporters, and with the "march of the euro taxman" halted - one fancied Mr Blair and Mr Brown humming that New Labour election theme - Things can only get better.