There are very few good things I have to say about the Conservative government, but the early days of GDS make it onto that short list. They intentionally structured GDS as much like a startup as possible, attracting a huge number of highly competent people, and giving them oversight of government digital projects.

They're the inspiration for many other country's digital teams, including the USDS who are strongly modelled on GDS, and have spawned equivalent teams within other branches of the UK government such as the Ministry of Justice and NHS.