The minister for civil society revealed last night that he receives policy advice from NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington in the form of “midnight text messages”.

Addressing a crowd of sector leaders at the annual summer reception hosted by NCVO and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Civil Society and Volunteering at the Houses of Parliament, Nick Hurd MP said he thought the relationship between the coalition government and the sector was one of “constructive engagement”.

He went on to highlight NCVO’s important role in this engagement and disclosed that “advice from Sir Stuart tends to come in the form of midnight text messages, much to the bewilderment of the new Mrs Hurd”.

He said it became increasingly difficult to convince her that the person at the other end of the phone was the NCVO’s chief executive, adding, to much hilarity: “I’m sure she thought I was having an affair.”

But harmony has now resumed in the Hurd household, since the minister and Sir Stuart have had a “cooling-off period”.