Will Starmer’s ‘mini-Davos’ jump-start investment in Britain?

Later this month the leaders of some of the world’s biggest businesses are expected to fly into London for the government’s first international investment summit, a key test of Labour’s attempts to catalyse private funding for economic growth.
After a drinks reception on October 13 at Lancaster House, close to Buckingham Palace, hosted by Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, bosses are expected to gather the next day for the summit, rumoured to be planned for the Guildhall in the City. A dinner is likely to follow at St Paul’s Cathedral to cap an exclusive event designed to “showcase the best of Britain”.
While preparations, including sponsors and the agenda, are still being finalised, No 10 is understood to have reached capacity by attracting up to 300 global business leaders.
Varun Chandra, the prime minister’s special adviser on business and investment and the former managing partner of the corporate intelligence specialist Hakluyt, has been orchestrating the preparations.
High-profile attendees joining the cabinet are expected to include David Solomon, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Larry Fink, the boss of BlackRock, and Helge Lund, chairman of Novo Nordisk, as well as chief executives from UK-based FTSE 100 companies such as Dame Emma Walmsley of GSK, C S Venkatakrishnan at Barclays, Amanda Blanc of Aviva, Margherita Della Valle of Vodafone and Paul Thwaite at NatWest.
Other A-list Wall Street figures who attended the last Conservative government’s summit at Hampton Court Palace in November last year, namely Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone and JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, will be unable to attend this year.
JP Morgan is instead sending Filippo Gori, the head of its Europe, Middle East and Africa business. Citigroup, another big Wall Street lender, is dispatching Vis Raghavan, one of its top bankers, while Shaun Grady, the chairman of AstraZeneca’s UK business, will be representing Britain’s most valuable public company.
Barclays is thought to be among the banks being lined up for sponsorship, which for last November’s summit cost about £250,000 per institution.
Labour said before the election it would hold the summit within 100 days of taking office — a show of the importance of attracting investment — and has vowed it will demonstrate that “Britain is back as a stable place to do business”.
However, the tight timeframe has meant, in the words of one insider, “pulling together a kind of mini-Davos in two months” amid a backdrop of growing scepticism from business.
Criticisms include a downturn in recent business confidence trackers following gloomy economic rhetoric from Labour’s leadership; the continued absence of an investment minister on the eve of the summit; criticism of the handling of the party’s business day at its conference in Liverpool last month; renewed broadsides from Elon Musk, the tech billionaire; and the timing of the summit, a fortnight before the budget, which has cast a cloud over the gathering.
Closely watched economic indicators this week from the CBI and Institute of Directors showed private sector growth expectations had softened and business confidence fell further in September, respectively.
In a sign of the scale of the challenge facing ministers, a report last month led by Sir Nigel Wilson, the former boss of Legal & General, for the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce warned that the UK needs £1 trillion of fresh investment over the next decade if the government is to hit its economic growth targets.
After a concerted pro-business charm offensive by Reynolds, Rachel Reeves, now chancellor, and Sir Keir Starmer, now the prime minister, before July’s general election, business leaders are becoming impatient for the government to advance key pledges.
One senior international financier, speaking confidentially, said it was “time for meat on the bone”.
They added: “If this is another glad-handing business session about pronouncements of being pro-growth and wanting to work with business and meeting and listening, I’d sort of walk out and say, ‘You know … been there, done that.’ ”
Details of the government’s industrial strategy, plans for closer ties with the European Union and fiscal policy were needed, they said, but added: “Not necessarily the full package, because we know there’s the budget.”
With Reeves’s budget scheduled for October 30, ministers are expected to be restricted in making any significant policy updates — to the frustration of some attendees. Another senior figure in the financial services industry thought the government had made a mistake by holding the summit first.
Businesses and entrepreneurs are bracing for tax rises, with Starmer warning that Labour’s first budget will be “painful” and Reeves saying ministers faced “difficult decisions” to fill a £22 billion hole in the public finances she claims was left by the Conservatives. It means the summit takes place amid a shroud of uncertainty about the government’s tax plans.
“They’ve totally mistimed this investment conference,” the financial services veteran said.
However, another leading City figure argued that the timing of the budget should not be a problem. This is because any tax changes unveiled by Reeves a fortnight after the summit will have little bearing on whether the likes of Saudi Arabia and other big international investors with deep pockets decide to pour more money into Britain.
Lord Johnson of Lainston, a shadow business minister who was investment minister until the election and co-hosted the last summit in November, said: “The principle around these events is to sell the UK. So the first thing you have to do is project a positive message about the opportunities within.
“The worst thing you can do is start off going around saying how Britain’s in a black hole and broken and all that sort of stuff, because that’s what people hear. The second thing is that Labour will have to work extra hard to prove to investors they’re not a very left-wing socialist party, and make a very clear message around their ambitions as a government.”
Johnson, the former chief executive of Somerset Capital Management, said the event was an opportunity to firm up foreign direct investment. “It’s a great way to say to some big Australian pension fund, ‘Come on, if you announce that you’re going to commit to £10 billion of investment in the UK, we’ll get a photograph of you at Buckingham Palace and all that sort of stuff.’ That’s not unimportant, it acts as a catalyst.”
Rishi Sunak, when prime minister, used November’s summit to trumpet investment commitments of £29.5 billion. Officials are again working to drum up a similarly large figure.
There are signs of misgivings among the public, though. While many support Reeves’s drive for private investment in British infrastructure and public services, there are doubts about taking money from foreign investors, recent polling by Find Out Now for Apella Advisors, the corporate affairs firm, suggests.
Labour’s leadership will deliver speeches, before smaller sessions are held on key economic sectors such as tech and AI, healthcare and energy.
One conspicuous absence from the cabinet is an investment minister, as the position has yet to be filled. Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, who co-founded Global Counsel, the geopolitical consulting firm, with Lord Mandelson of Foy, the Labour peer and former business secretary, was the leading candidate but withdrew from the process because of the financial cost to his business interests.
The pressure to quickly make appointments before the summit has been exposed elsewhere.
Ian Corfield, a former executive at NewDay, the credit card company, who donated £20,000 to Labour and was a senior business adviser to the party before the election, was made a temporary director of investment at the Treasury in July in order “to carry out urgent work” for the summit. But he has since become an unpaid adviser amid a row over cronyism and donations.
No 10 is said to be aware of the disgruntlement with the recent business day at the Labour Party conference over the limited access to ministers and the cost.
One Westminster source insisted: “This is not about politicians talking to businesses. This is about a substantive conversation.”