Successive British politicians have reached for Silicon Valley – or the idea of Silicon Valley – every time they’ve wanted to project a vision of the future.

In 2010 David Cameron set out plans to turn East London into “a world-leading tech city to rival Silicon Valley.” Seven years later, Theresa May’s government was still flogging “plans for the UK’s Silicon Valley” and she was followed by Boris Johnson and his vision to “shake up the Treasury with a Silicon Valley approach.” Even Liz Truss found time to declare in 2022 that “we can create the British version of Silicon Valley” and Rishi Sunak – who actually knew a thing or two about the........

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