They can line up Chequers, or perhaps Windsor Palace. They can ask the King or Prince William to host a glamorous dinner. Perhaps they can even persuade Sir Elton John, given that he is supporting the party, to sing a few songs, or, failing that, at least get Ed Sheeran to strum his guitar.
The Labour Party has promised to hold a major “investment conference” within 100 days of taking office to bring a wave of foreign investment into the UK.
In fairness, it is not a fundamentally terrible idea. The trouble is, the new Labour Government will have to make some big, bold offers – because it desperately needs some global cash to have any chance of improving growth.
If you happen to be running one of the sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, one of the American technology or pharmaceutical conglomerates or a Chinese manufacturing giant, it does not sound like a hugely appealing invitation. The British investment summit may well include Rachel Reeves, the new Chancellor, regaling everyone with a lecture about how her time as a relatively junior economist at the Bank of England, means she knows how to run the economy, followed by Sir Keir Starmer, the new Prime Minister, telling everyone that as the son of a toolmaker he knows how industry works.
Even so, the investment summit will be a centrepiece of Labour’s first 100 days in power. It will put a huge amount of energy into unveiling a series of major investments designed to demonstrate that the new government can reboot growth and get Britain’s economy back on track.
It certainly needs to do something. The UK has fallen down the league tables for foreign direct investment (FDI). According to the latest figures from the Department for Business and Trade, the number of foreign investment projects has fallen to a 12-year low.
There were 1,555 FDI projects in Britain in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024, which was 6pc down on the previous year, and 31pc down on the number before we left the EU. It is not hard to understand why.
Brexit unpopular among investors
Whatever you think of Brexit, there is no question that it was hugely unpopular among global investors, while political turmoil and a huge rise in corporation tax both dented confidence that was already very fragile. The UK has been regarded as uninvestable for the last few years, and that has shown up in the figures.
An investment summit is one way of fixing that. France’s President Emmanuel Macron had some success with his gatherings at Versailles, personally wooing global business leaders with some Gallic flair and charm. It might be cheesy at times, but it can make a difference. At the last “Choose France” event, projects worth $16bn (£12bn) from the likes of Amazon and Microsoft were unveiled.
If Labour is to have any chance of turning the UK into the fastest-growing economy in the G7, which always sounded implausible, it will need to bring in some serious cash and do so very quickly.