It was a strategy born of his own experience at Goldman, where he rose through the ranks by building out the investment bank's formidable United States government bond trading arm.
Again, his suspicions are understandable, since the business lobby for Heathrow is formidable and government ministers, or at least some Tory ones, seem constantly to try to backtrack on David Cameron's promise of no third runway at Heathrow –"no ifs, no buts".
Yet what the true history of the Kennedy assassination, including the newly released documents, reveals is not how formidable the government agencies during the Cold War era were but how vulnerable they were to exposure by what was then called "the press," and to the countervailing power of Congress.
While the political impediments to action remain formidable, the government could quickly do a great deal to add paychecks and restore vigor to the economy.
Not so our military and the various components of our national security state, including lately those devoted to "homeland security"; they comprise a formidable permanent government.
He has built a formidable network across government by promoting his favourites to influential positions and created a considerable powerbase.
The barrier of capital costs is formidable: researchers and government need to work together to make cheaper digesters available and to supply financial support to enable households or communities to build biodigesters.
Educated at Princeton, Harvard and the London School of Economics, Paul Volcker has been a formidable figure in government for more than 30 years, serving two terms as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987.
Mr Bush's team, so seemingly formidable as a government-in-waiting, proved less powerful in the mundane business of getting supporters to the caucus meetings.
(Starting in 1954, Guatemala's government faced formidable guerrilla opposition that sparked civil war).
