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The minister in charge of social media and digital technology has insisted he is “absolutely ready to engage” with Elon Musk, despite not having spoken to the world’s richest man since taking office in July.
Peter Kyle denied the Tesla chief had been snubbed by the UK government ahead of its inaugural international investment summit, to which Mr Musk was not invited.
He insisted that the lack of an invite was not related to Mr Musk’s criticisms of Sir Keir Starmer over the summer, during which he posted a series of images, videos and memes on social media related to ongoing rioting in the UK.
Mr Musk, who also owns X, formerly Twitter, tagged Sir Keir in several tweets, writing “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?” and “#TwoTierKeir”.
Asked whether Mr Musk was not invited to the summit because of his criticism of the prime minister, Mr Kyle said “absolutely not”, telling Times Radio that “he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events”. And he told Times Radio: “Let me just send my very best to him on the safe landing of the booster rocket yesterday, it was a stunning achievement and I did watch slack-jawed at the staggering achievement that that represented.
“Elon Musk has never come to any of the past investment summits that have been held under the previous government, he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events, but I stand absolutely ready to engage with him, to talk about any potential global investments he’s making – I’m not aware of any at this moment in time.”
He added that “we have good engagement with some of his companies”.
Meanwhile Downing Street insisted its investment summit is “not about focusing on any one specific person”.
Asked why Mr Musk had not been invited, the PM’s official spokesman said: “What you can see today is 300 of the most significant investors, people who can bring significant amounts of capital to the UK, attending this summit, which is obviously hugely significant.”
In September, The Independent revealed Mr Kyle has still not spoken to Mr Musk, despite social media, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, space travel and the internet all being major items in the minister’s huge portfolio.
Downing Street had criticised Mr Musk this summer for tweeting that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, with Sir Keir’s official spokesman saying that there was “no justification for comments like that”.
And the PM rejected Mr Musk’s claims of “two-tier policing” in Britain after the billionaire claimed rioters over the summer were being dealt with more harshly than those involved in other recent protests.
It comes as Sir Keir gathers global business chiefs at a summit in the City of London to drum up private sector investment in the UK.
After a turbulent first 100 days in government, Sir Keir will pitch to business leaders attending the gathering that Labour’s historic election win has given the government a “golden opportunity… to end chop and change, policy churn and sticking plasters that make it so hard for investors to assess the value of any proposition”.
He will tout the value of a steady, stable government, saying: “We have the determination, the focus on clear, long-term ends, a mission-led mindset that thinks in years, not the days or hours of the news grid, needed to unlock that potential. Do not doubt that.”
Sir Keir will plead for additional investment from business chiefs, telling them “private sector investment is the way we rebuild our country and pay our way in the world”.
He will be joined at the Guildhall in the City of London by chief executives from Blackrock, GSK and pioneering automated driving start-up Wayve.
