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’. Leaving Musk out of the conversation might be considered a touch eccentric, if not downright stupid. Whichever way you look at it, closing the door to one of the world’s richest and most prominent entrepreneurs is certainly an odd way of signalling openness to investment.
Musk may have an abundant ego with a tendency to pick petty fights with all and sundry…
What exactly is behind such folly? It follows a spat between Musk and the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the role that social media platforms played in the summer riots. Violent unrest flared across Britain after three children were killed in a knife attack in Southport. Starmer issued a warning to social media companies at the time: ‘Violent disorder was clearly whipped up online. That is also a crime. It is happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere.’ Spoken like the public prosecutor Starmer used to be.
Musk – as anyone will tell you – doesn’t respond too well to feedback or criticism. He was quick to offer his own explanation of the root cause of the rioting, blaming Britain’s multiculturalism: ‘If incompatible cultures are brought together without assimilation, conflict is inevitable,’ he wrote, adding on a post of a police arrest: ‘Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?’ This provocative counter narrative certainly rattled cages in government, with ministers condemning the comments as ‘totally unjustifiable’ and ‘pretty deplorable’. Hence the apparent cold-shouldering of Musk.
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It all feels rather childish. Is it really the job of ministers to be offended, or should they be able to put their injured feelings and frustrations to one side, and think of the bigger picture in terms of investment opportunities for Britain? I would suggest the latter. Yet the fledgling new Labour government, not exactly flush with people experienced in business or finance, has decided to flex its muscles and make an example of Musk. This posturing will do little to help create new jobs in the industries of the future.
Musk, for example, has previously signalled he was considering building an electric car plant in Britain. Surely the sensible thing would be to welcome his interest and do everything possible to help to bring such plans to fruition? Plenty of other countries are more than happy to put out the red carpet for Musk. Why? Because the numbers speak for themselves. Musk, worth an estimated $270 billion, has co-founded numerous companies including the electric car maker Tesla and rocket producer Space X. The latter is now worth nearly $180 billion, and has quintupled its value in just four years. Musk also has ambitions in the hugely lucrative and fast-expanding AI sector, which will transform the global economy in the years ahead.
Musk may have an abundant ego with a tendency to pick petty fights with all and sundry, but no one can honestly suggest he isn’t brimming with ideas. It is plain daft to pretend he doesn’t exist or to suggest that he is irrelevant. The stance taken by ministers in slighting him is a far cry from the attitude of the previous Conservative government, which put out all the stops to court Musk. He was the headline act at the inaugural UK summit on held in Bletchley Park last November. Who can forget the toe-curling live-streamed ‘fireside chat’ in which the then prime minister Rishi Sunak played the role of fawning interviewer to Musk’s entrepreneurial genius. Sunak perhaps went a touch overboard but at least he had the right idea.
Snubbing Musk because of his political views or because he says unpalatable or controversial things is short-sighted and ultimately counterproductive. It is not too late for ministers to change course and invite him to the tech summit. It would be the grown-up thing to do.
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