diff --git a/Lib/cgitb.py b/Lib/cgitb.py
index 5becdf3..8acc4b7 100644
--- a/Lib/cgitb.py
+++ b/Lib/cgitb.py
@@ -295,14 +295,19 @@
         if self.logdir is not None:
             suffix = ['.txt', '.html'][self.format=="html"]
             (fd, path) = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix=suffix, dir=self.logdir)
+
             try:
                 file = os.fdopen(fd, 'w')
                 file.write(doc)
                 file.close()
-                msg = '<p> %s contains the description of this error.' % path
+                msg = '%s contains the description of this error.' % path
             except:
-                msg = '<p> Tried to save traceback to %s, but failed.' % path
-            self.file.write(msg + '\n')
+                msg = 'Tried to save traceback to %s, but failed.' % path
+
+            if self.format == 'html':
+                self.file.write('<p>%s</p>\n' % msg)
+            else:
+                self.file.write(msg + '\n')
         try:
             self.file.flush()
         except: pass