Keir Starmer in fresh war of words with Elon Musk over UK travel warning
Elon Musk has warned investors to avoid the UK as long as Sir Keir Starmer is Prime Minister, as he accused him of "releasing paedophiles to imprison people for social media posts"
Sir Keir Starmer has fired back at Tesla tycoon Elon Musk following the tech mogul's controversial advice to avoid the UK.
Musk caused a stir by claiming Starmer was "releasing paedophiles to imprison people for social media posts".
The Labour leader slammed Musk's comments after a series of tweets from the billionaire labelling him as "two-tier Keir" amid last year's racial unrest.
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In response to Musk's outburst, Sir Keir retorted: "What he said is in stark contrast to the very strong view around the breakfast table this morning."
At a business roundtable in New York on Thursday, aimed at attracting investment to Britain, the Prime Minister highlighted the positive feedback received, saying: "They described this morning's meeting with the UK as the best of the meetings they've had this week at UNGA."
He emphasised the UK's attractiveness for investment, stating: "That's their words, not mine, that there's really strong window of opportunity now with the UK, given the changes we've brought about, our number one mission on economic growth and to talk them through."
Despite the tension between Musk and himself, Sir Keir expressed openness to any investment from Musk's enterprises, adding: "Obviously, I encourage investment from anywhere, and so I don't want to be misunderstood on this."
He concluded with a clear message: "So good investment into the UK is what I'm very, very keen to promote."
"It's why I have this business. We had one here. But every time I'm abroad, every time on an international trip, we do these investment breakfasts, because I'm absolutely determined to get the investment that we need into the economy."
The Prime Minister is gearing up for a high-profile investment summit in October, aiming to reel in billions of pounds of inward investment for UK businesses, reports the Express.
Yet, Elon Musk won't be gracing the event with his presence, having been left off the guest list by the Government.
Musk's controversial statement advising against UK visits due to Sir Keir's early release policy came hot on the heels of him finding out about the cold shoulder.
Just yesterday, the BBC revealed that Musk was pointedly excluded from the invite list by the Government due to his contentious social media antics.
Although Musk was on the roster for last year's summit, he was a no-show.
This time around, it seems SpaceX will still have a seat at the table, albeit through a company representative.
This latest spat adds fuel to the fire of Musk's already strained relations with the UK government, which took a nosedive after his cosy fireside chat with Rishi Sunak.
Over the summer, Musk stirred the pot by predicting "civil war is inevitable" amidst escalating concerns over law and order.