The Laws of the Public Policy Process: Don’t Get Angry, Except On Purpose

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

A couple of years ago Donal Blaney ran a weekly column on ConservativeHome entitled “The Laws of the Public Policy Process”. These 45 rules were devised by Morton Blackwell – the Godfather of the American conservative movement – and they come from his decades of experience in the policy process. Every Saturday YBF will discuss one of these laws in the context of some current political news.

Rule No. 3: Don’t get angry, except on purpose.

Anyone witnessing Alistair Darling trying to fumble his way out of the hole he dug himself into will notice that his lips starts to shake uncontrollably at about 30 seconds in. OK, maybe it was nerves rather than anger, but he certainly seemed to lose patience with the interview. One of the most famous clips of a politician getting angry features Darling’s boss – G Brown Esq. See this video and look out for Brown’s hand shaking in anger.

The point is this; showing anger is essentially losing control – and if a politician loses control he is a sitting duck. Controlled anger on the other hand, is a marvellous thing. There is no greater force in politics than moral indignation – that’s rule No. 44.