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The competing allegations must be investigated on their own merits. If public servants were obstructed, officials intimidated or abusive conduct took place, the law provides remedies. But a minister cannot simultaneously represent the authority of law and assume the authority to punish, because a public office imposes a higher, not lower, threshold of restraint. Ministers routinely encounter heckling, provocation, demonstrations and sometimes deliberate attempts to embarrass or humiliate them. The test of public leadership is not how one behaves when applauded but how one behaves when provoked.