A minister may sometimes find himself / herself at the receiving end of temper tantrums, threats, abuse, and so on. It is easy to take this at face value, and to think that it reflects on me. To some extent this may be true. However, I have learnt over the years that if someone, as an example, blows a fuse with the minister, you can be almost sure that they are doing the same with their spouse, their local representative, their bank, and so on. My late wife Mirjam said about such situations: “Find out the whole story.” OBSERVATION: This, among other things, makes me wary of the advice which is commonly given to ministers, that such incidents are primarily for learning and maturity on the part of a minister.
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