Happy summit day, one and all. Today is the new Labour government’s first big business bash, as proceedings kick off at the Guildhall. Ministers are insisting that Britain is open for investment (honest, guv) ahead of Rachel Reeves’ Budget on 30 October. Yet while there were some early positive signs for the Prime Minister – with five of the world’s biggest banks signing a statement of support today – there seems to be a fly in the ointment in the form of one man’s absence.

Elon Musk is conspicuously not present at today’s jamboree, with the BBC reporting that he was ‘not invited due to his social media posts’ during the August riots. Ministers have remained tight-lipped on his lack of an invite. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds refused three times to comment in an interview with Sky yesterday, declaring ‘I’m not going to comment on particular invitations for particular personnel.’ Then this morning the Science Secretary Peter Kyle suggested that Musk did not get an invite due to his tendency to avoid ‘these sort of events’ , telling Times Radio:

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.

Mr S is old enough to recall the far-flung days of, er, last November when he took a starring role in Britain’s AI Summit, including a fireside chat with then-PM Rishi Sunak. Ministers might not like the Tesla’s boss rhetoric but he does have some serious money to invest. Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that Musk ‘told me last year he was planning a new car plant in Europe and had not decided where but the UK was a candidate.’

Let’s hope Musk’s non-appearance doesn’t put any such investment at risk…