Mark Wickham-Jones Quotes

There's nothing to be said for opposition. You can only talk about things and you can lay your plans. You can't actually achieve very much; you have to be in government for that.

Johnson showed me how important it was to use every hour of every day to shape national policy while we had the power to do so.

Legislative proposals are not merely vehicles for expressing policy, they are devices for getting policy decided.

There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity.

In the White House, you can be on the pitcher's mound or you can be in the catcher's position. Put points on the board. Show people you can govern. Deliver on what you said you were going to deliver on.

Good intentions rarely make good policy.

We have no strategy. It is the government that sets the strategy. All we can do it try and figure out what the government will do.

All policy is targeted in one way or another.

Good organization does not necessarily mean it will produce good policy. But bad organization will almost never produce good policy.

Governing is about selecting.

Successful and unsuccessful political policies have one commonalty. The people who created the policies thought they would be successful.

Good or bad, political choices have an impact on the way country’s behave.

The question of our time is rapidly becoming can government get things done?

If you talk to a lot of people in government, they will talk about the pathway to getting something done rather than the thing itself. And I just talk about material outcomes.

We think the government is running the country, but it is just a policymaker. Unknowingly, people are inviting the government to run their lives. The only business of the government is to come up with the right policies.

You know, by the time you become the leader of a country, someone else makes all the decisions. ... You may find you can get away with virtual presidents, virtual prime ministers, virtual everything.

Oh, if only I could be President and Congress, too, just for ten minutes.

People think of politicians having true power, but that's less and less true. After all, they are often constrained or being edged into a corner by a whole series of contingencies.

If you can't legislate, you can't deal with problems.

When you're in government, you have a big impact in Washington, but Washington may not be doing very much.

Everything I did in politics affected somebody.

Public policy is a study in imperfection. It involves imperfect people, with imperfect information, facing deeply imperfect choices - so it's not surprising that they're getting imperfect results.

Leadership is important in politics.

I came to Washington understanding what the Senate is capable of accomplishing and knowing that I'd have myriad opportunities as a senator to get things done.

I really focus on making sure that we pass good policy. I don't mind throwing my elbows around to get it done.