Labour‘s first international investment summit will feature senior executives from companies including Google, Wayve and Brookfield Asset Management, the Government confirmed on Saturday.
Speakers at the UK’s International Investment Summit on 14 October will include Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve, and Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management.
At next week’s summit, Sir Keir Starmer hopes to gather hundreds of leading investors with the aim of attracting tens of billions of pounds in funding for the UK and kick-starting economic growth.
But one big name was missing from the invite list – billionaire and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk. Sir Keir made the decision last month not to invite Mr Musk due to his social media posts during the riots in August this year.
Hitting back at Sir Keir’s decision not to invite him, Musk wrote on X: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”
As violence spread across the UK in the wake of a stabbing attack in Southport in which three children were killed, Mr Musk repeatedly attacked the Prime Minister on the social media platform and predicted a “civil war” in the UK.
The Government subsequently promised to bring those who took part in the riots to justice – even as it has had to release some other inmates ahead of schedule to ease pressure on its creaking prison system.
Mr Musk branded Sir Keir “two-tier Keir,” claiming that British police deal less harshly with violence perpetrated by non-white offenders. He also compared the UK to the Soviet Union and shared – and later deleted – a conspiracy theory about the UK building “detainment camps” on the Falkland Islands to house rioters.
Sir Keir has since said that Mr Musk would be welcome to invest in the UK, telling the BBC: “Obviously, I encourage investment from anywhere. Good investment into the UK is what I’m very, very keen to promote.” But there is still no sign of an invite for businessman who has a net worth of £201bn ($264bn), according to Forbes.
The summit, which will bring together up to 300 industry leaders to catalyse investment in the UK, is sponsored by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, M&G, Octopus Energy, and TSL Group.
The Government said in a statement: “The event will provide an opportunity for the Government to establish enduring partnerships with businesses to boost investment in the UK and to give investors the certainty and confidence they need to drive growth.”
It added that Sir Keir would on Friday convene in Scotland the first Council of Nations and Regions, bringing together the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and regional mayors from across England to discuss investment and growth ahead of the summit.
Mr Musk was invited to last year’s event but did not attend. However, he took a starring role in last November’s artificial intelligence summit, including a fireside chat with then-prime minister Rishi Sunak.