The business secretary refused this morning to explain why Labour has not invited the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, to the government’s upcoming international investment summit.
CEO of social media platform X, car company Tesla Motors and spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX, Musk, clashed with Labour and the PM Keir Starmer repeatedly over the far-right riots which erupted in the summer.
He claimed civil war was “inevitable” in the UK, and repeated the conspiracy theory that protesters on the left face a softer punishment than those on the right, calling Starmer “two-tier Kier” – remarks ministers called “deplorable”.
However, Jonathan Reynolds did not reference any of these clashes when pressed about Musk’s absence from the summit on Sky News.
Presenter Trevor Phillips asked: “You’re sniffy about the biggest car maker in the world because he’s put something on social media that you didn’t like?”
The minister said he was not going to comment on individual invites, but Phillips said: “Come on, Elon Musk is not some odd invitation!”
Reynolds replied: “I’m not going to comment on the reasons for any specific person but I can tell you we have 300 of the most significant investors, business figures, people who can bring significant amounts of capital to the UK.”
But Phillips cut across him: “You’re happy to talk to me about DP World, who sack their workers, you’re happy to invite the Saudis, who authorised the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and they get the red carpet.
“Why isn’t Musk being invited? This is you in opposition again, isn’t it?”
“No not at all,” the minister replied, saying it was about who can bring the most investment to the UK.
“Musk hasn’t got a bob or two that he can put into Britain?” Phillips pushed.
Reynolds said: “This is a summit I know that everyone wants to come [to], I do understand that. Not everyone can come.
“It would not be right to go through the individual decisions for individual people. This is about what will make the biggest difference.”
“You understand how weird this sounds?” the presenter continued. “You want people to come and invest in Britain. You want people to bring their money.
“Yet the one person who has got money to burn, and he said so publicly when he didn’t get the invitation, you’re deciding he’s not good enough for what reason?”
Reynolds said he would talk to anyone who had a business proposal for the UK, but he was not going to go through the “thousands” of people who did not make the cut for Monday’s summit.
“Come on, Elon Musk is not thousands of people!” Phillips replied – but Reynolds refused to be drawn.
When he realised he was not invited last month, Musk hit back on social media, claiming: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”
Labour did release some prisoners in September to reduce overcrowding but anyone serving time for sex offences was excluded.
Some people were also jailed for inciting violence online after the far-right riots which sprung up in the summer.
Starmer’s approach to Musk is markedly different from Rishi Sunak’s.
The former PM welcomed Musk for last November’s AI summit, and they held a fireside chat together.
Former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the BBC in September it was a “big loss” not to have him at the summit, saying: “He told me last year he was planning a new car plant in Europe and had not decided where but the UK was a candidate.”