The business secretary this morning refused to explain why Labor will not invite the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, to the government’s next international investment summit.
Musk, the CEO of social media platform X, car company Tesla Motors and spacecraft maker SpaceX, has repeatedly clashed with Labor and Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the far-right violence that erupted in the summer.
He has insisted that civil war is “inevitable” in Britain, repeated conspiracy theories that left-wing protesters receive less punishment than those on the right, and called Starmer a “two-tier tier”, a comment that ministers have criticized. called it “deplorable.”
However, Jonathan Reynolds made no mention of these conflicts when asked about Mr Musk’s absence from the summit on Sky News.
Presenter Trevor Phillips asked: “Do you hate the world’s biggest car manufacturer because they posted something on social media that you don’t like?”
The minister said he would not comment on individual invitations, but Phillips said: “Elon Musk is not a strange invitation!”
Mr Reynolds said: “I’m not going to comment on the reasons for any particular person, but I can tell you that there are 300 of the most important investors, business figures and people who can bring significant amounts of money to the UK.” Ta.
But Phillips crossed him and said, “You’re willing to tell me about DP World firing workers, and you’re willing to invite the Saudis who authorized the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and they Get the red carpet.
“Why isn’t Mr. Musk invited? He’s also against this, right?”
“Not really,” he said, saying the question was who could bring the most investment to the UK.
“Doesn’t Mr Musk have a bob or two to throw at the UK?” pressed Phillips.
“This is a summit that everyone wants to come to, and I understand that,” Reynolds said. Not everyone can come.
“It’s not right to make individual decisions for individual people. This is what will make the biggest difference.”
“Do you realize how strange this sounds?” the presenter continued. “We want people to come to the UK and invest. We want people to bring money.
“Yet the only person with money to burn said so publicly when he didn’t get an invite, so what makes you decide he’s not good enough?”
Mr Reynolds said he would speak to anyone with a business proposal for the UK, but would not address the “thousands” of people who were unable to attend Monday’s summit.
“Come on, Elon Musk is not a thousand people!” Phillips responded, but Reynolds refused to be pictured.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk via Associated Press
After learning he wasn’t invited last month, Musk fired back on social media, writing, “Britain for jailing people for posts on social media while freeing convicted pedophiles.” I don’t think I should go there,” he said.
Labor released some prisoners in September to ease overcrowding, but excluded those who had served time for sex offences.
Some people have been jailed for inciting violence online after far-right riots erupted over the summer.
Starmer’s approach to masks is markedly different to Rishi Sunak’s.
The former prime minister welcomed Musk to an AI summit last November and they had a fireside chat together.
Former Conservative Party prime minister Jeremy Hunt told the BBC in September that his absence from the summit was a “huge loss”, adding: “He told me last year that he was planning a new car factory in Europe. “We have said that we are planning to do so, but we have not yet decided on a location outside of the UK.” It was a candidate. ”
