Bill Clinton made a plea yesterday for a new emphasis on monogamy as a key element in the battle against Aids.

The former US president, not noted for his ability to keep his own marriage vows, said it was very important to change people's attitudes to sex.

In an interview with the BBC recorded in Africa, Mr Clinton said that increasing support for monogamy was not just a problem for the continent worst hit by Aids but for the world.

"To pretend we can ever get hold of this without dealing with that – the idea of unprotected sexual relations with unlimited numbers of partners – I think would be naïve," he said.

Wait, wait, stop laughing! There is a serious point here. It's easy to dismiss Clinton as a hypocrite, but his failure to practice what he preaches has no bearing on the hygienic merits of his statement. Even if he had put his argument in moral terms, it would be equally valid regardless of his own behavior.

That said, Clinton's hypocrisy does make him a problematic advocate for monogamy, simply because it makes him so hard to take seriously. Even the Independent, a left-wing paper doubtless sympathetic to the ex-president, can't resist a little dig to the effect that Clinton is "not noted for his ability to keep his own marriage vows." Maybe AIDS advocates should find a better spokesman for monogamy.