Starmer needs to make peace with Elon Musk

It is tantrums at dawn between Elon Musk and Keir Starmer’s Labour government. The Tesla billionaire and owner of Twitter is hopping mad after being denied an invitation to a government-led tech summit due to take place next month. In response Musk – certainly no one’s idea of a shrinking violet – said on Twitter: ‘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’. He appeared to be referring to the prisoner early release scheme, initiated by the Labour government to ease pressure on a prison system it has claimed is ‘on the point of collapse’ due to a lack of capacity.

The spat is over the International Investment summit, scheduled to start on 14 October. The government hopes it will provide a boost for investment in the UK two weeks before the Autumn budget. The event is being hosted by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, with the avowed aim of showing that the UK is ‘open for business’.