So how much is it costing taxpayers for ministers to have coaching on how to do their jobs? Is it £1,000 a day? £2,000? More? Courses on offer cover everything from speechwriting and spin (public communications, they call it) to “mind mapping” (no, I’m not making it up) and political intelligence (if only). The government is determined to keep the costs secret. The National School of Government, which trained 54 ministers last year, claims costs are “commercially confidential”. (So how can we tell if we are getting value for money?) The school is only the tip of the iceberg. Other ministers (no, the figures are not collected centrally) are being coached by the private sector – as are civil servants. Sir Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, has had executive coaching, although I am told he does not have a coach “at present”.