It was a bad idea, because I think that any government reorganization has to come in relatively small bites, or else you get indigestion.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Sure, things could always have been done better, but I just wish people would drop their political hammers for a few weeks, as happened in 2001, and work on the problem at hand.
Reform is not for the short-winded. I'm committed to making sure the Senate is more than just a graveyard for good ideas.
Not reforming the NHS would have been a much easier decision for me as secretary of state to have taken. We could have just protected the NHS from cuts, put in an extra £12.5bn and left it there. But sooner or later the cracks would have started to show. New treatments would have been held back.
The consequence of shutting down the government was not healthy.
It was a bit of a surprise when I became a Tory MP. My friends said it was a stupid idea.
It's hard to make something as large as a government change. It's a little bit like building the transcontinental railroad.
I think a lot can be said for consolidation, but I think it should be done for the right reasons.
I think it was absolutely a mistake for President Obama and Harry Reid to force a government shutdown.
Third issue, and again I think it is important to note, anyone can make a mistake and any administration can make a mistake once in a while, but this is just a long train of abuses, an unbroken chain of following special interests rather than the health of the American people.
I think it's a lovely idea, but it will not pass the Congress. I live in a world of realities. The policy of our country is that we can drill our way to independence. I think that's a march to folly.