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MacDonald says Harper has not been treated for depression. “As the public knows, and as the Prime Minister’s record shows, he’s had no difficulties making decisions in good times or bad.”

Flanagan and Harper had worked together since their Reform Party days. Flanagan managed the Conservatives’ 2004 federal election campaign and served as an adviser in the 2005-06 election. They have been estranged since Flanagan wrote a behind-the-scenes book on Harper’s rise to power.

Harper may have been moody, but his “funks” never lasted a week, says Gerry Nicholls, who worked closely with Harper at the National Citizens Coalition between 1998 and 2001.

“I would see Stephen sometimes get morose and sad but it never affected his ability to do his job,” said Nicholls, who is no longer close to Harper. “Yes, sometimes he would get depressed but he was always a hard worker and always doing his job.”

Nicholls says he never believed Harper was clinically depressed. “He’d go into his office, close his door, and you knew you wanted to give him some space. It never seemed something that unusual.”

The most glum Harper ever seemed was the day he was leaving as NCC president to seek the leadership of the Canadian Alliance, Nicholls recalls.

“I was trying to cheer him up, saying, ‘This is a big adventure, Steve.’ It didn’t work.”

But the next day, Nicholls says, the mood had passed and Harper had thrown himself into the campaign.

Nicholls believes Harper’s melancholy owed much to a fear of making mistakes that grips some politicians. “He is so smart and he had a great imagination and can think about all the horrible things that can happen.”