Whether it sees Elon Musk’s DOGE as a success or a failure, Whitehall should see it as a warning. Because institutions which won’t reform themselves can only ever be reformed by outsiders, usually in unpredictable ways, says Joe Hill

In December, the Prime Minister pledged to “rewire the State”, and Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden told assembled journalists that our civil service would start to act “more like a start-up”. Far across the Atlantic, we are already seeing an extreme version of this dynamic playing out, with President Trump appointing Elon Musk to run their promised Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from the White House.

It’s a comparison I doubt our government would appreciate. DOGE has had a rocky start, battered by court orders and personnel issues with many of the new employees it has hired. It’s also slashed USAID funding, frozen federal grants (temporarily) and helped issue a controversial “Fork in the road” memo to all federal staff offering them........

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