A good month before the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the CDU gave the opposition SPD and Greens a first-class campaign gift.
Nicely packaged as a "Mallorca Gate" and garnished with the resignation of Environment Minister Heinen-Esser, it will now become a heavy burden for Prime Minister Wüst in the final stretch of the election campaign.
He has to wonder if he let the affair go on for too long.
Because the immense damage to the ruling party was only caused by the amateurish handling of it.
It's always amazing how even experienced politicians disregard the simplest rules as soon as their wrongdoing is exposed: show remorse, don't hide anything and don't wait for the whole story to come out.
Anne Spiegel has had better luck so far
The minister's first version of why she was doing this from the Balearic island instead of dealing with the consequences of the flood disaster at home was only half the truth.
Not only did the daughter have to be looked after, but her husband's birthday had to be celebrated with a group of ministers who had flown in as party guests.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, counterpart Spiegel has so far had better luck with her “SMS gate”.
Thanks to its promotion to the federal cabinet, the Greens were able to save themselves on the Berliner Ufer.
But why does one minister have to go and the other one stay in office?