The problem with the Tory obsession with DARPA

Dominic Cummings’s two catchphrases ‘take back control’ and ‘get Brexit done’ have transformed British politics. Now the PM’s top aide wants to do the same with the British economy through the creation of another ARPA. But will it work?

The first Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in the US in 1958. The previous year the Soviets had launched the world’s first artificial orbital satellite, Sputnik, which made Americans fear that the USSR’s economy was about to overtake the US’s. The thought was that only if the US immediately copied the brilliant engineers who ran the Soviet Union could the West hope to keep up.

ARPA was the outcome. Intended to create innovative research, its staff weren’t to do anything boring like be accountable to anyone for the taxpayers’ money they spent. Instead, they were set loose to think freely. The Americans were to invent the personal computer, the internet, emails, Silicon Valley and all the other tech goodies we enjoy today as a result.