Problems must ary rom minister to minister

There has been a predictable outcry, notably among repressed and emotionally constipated commentators, at the news that li e coaches ha e been employed to mentor go ernment ministers on a daily basis. Senior politicians may be bright and achie ement-orientated, the thinking in Whitehall goes, but what about their emotional intelligence? Their empathy skills? Are they truly in touch with themsel es? Hazel Blears, or example, may seem to be in control when appearing on the Today programme but, inside her, there is almost certainly a little Hazel, acting tough in the playground because she is a raid that the big boys and girls might laugh at her. It is to gi e Hazel and her colleagues the opportunity to unclench, to be gi en what experts call the "cuddle actor", that the new initiati e has been launched. "A lot o them ha e a trusted mentor and ad iser, a consultant they eel sa e and com ortable with, to whom they can download stu ," a coach rom a consultancy used at the Department o Health recently told The Sunday Times.But what stu exactly gets downloaded by ministers? I spoke to a li e coach rom another team o consultants working in Westminster to get a clearer picture."Miss Jones, you are a li e coach to the Go ernment, I belie e.'"It's Dr Jones, actually, although my ministers, or "special riends" as I call them, know me as Sarah, Sarah-Jane or Sally - my name depends on who I'm seeing. A ery senior minister I'll simply call 'John P' likes to call me Sharon or some reason.""How does being a 'special riend' to ministers work?""We sit in on meetings with them and, when e eryone has gone, we'll say things like, 'That was really great, Patricia H - ery strong yet empathic.

One thing, though - I noticed that now and then you mo ed into school-pre ect, sel -protection mode You need to work on your sel -actualisation exercises. And Patricia H will ha e a good old cry, then tidy hersel or the next meeting.""Problems must ary rom minister to minister.""Absolutely. No politician is entirely sane and, in the li e-coach lark, it is more or less accepted that the more senior a minister becomes, the greater the need or impulse control and emotion management.""How do you set about that?""It's all about taking ownership o your own problems. I ha e had to work with Alastair D's obsessi e delusion that he had the emotional warmth o a tra ic bollard. Once he came to terms with the act that he was wrong - it wasn't a delusion at all, it was true - he could mo e on. I talked to him about ways that he could ind his way out o what I call 'the orest o dullness' I brought in a humour coach.

Now we're thinking stylists - sometimes a moustache or slightly longer sideburns can completely change a person's sel -image.""What stu is most requently downloaded my ministers?""Chronic narcissism is a common problem. I' e been trying to help Tony B with a con iction that the weather and global warming are not necessarily re lections o his own political career. He still belie es that Hurricane Katrina happened to distract the world's press rom the positi e de elopments in his relationship with George Bush. He worries that the world might end when he lea es his job.""Does his neighbour ha e problems?""Tell me about it.