Ex-Google boss to join Starmer at investment summit

Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, will take a central role at next Monday’s UK International Investment Summit when he will appear on stage alongside Sir Keir Starmer.
Dame Emma Walmsley, chief executive of the pharma giant GSK, will be moderating a session between Starmer and Schmidt at the summit, which is scheduled for October 14.
It is a key moment in Labour’s attempt to prove that Britain is open for business and dispel the gloomy messaging that had dominated the first weeks of the new government.
The government is determined to ensure that it can bring in more investment than was achieved by two previous summits, hosted during the premierships of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
Sponsorship comes from three leading banks — HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds — and the investment giant M&G, Octopus and the data centre business TSL.
Cabinet ministers are being lined up to interview panellists including Larry Fink, the chief executive of America’s BlackRock, and Ruth Porat, the president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google.
The run-up to the summit has faced criticism that Labour’s messaging about the “pain” coming in the budget on October 30 will deter investment in Britain, as has the inability to appoint an investment minister to lead Britain’s efforts to win international investment in to Britain.
Others expected to speak are Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, David Ricks, the chief executive of the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, and Alex Kendall, the co-founder of driverless car company Wayve (a rival to Musk’s car company Tesla which, instead of manufacturing its own cars, licenses its self-driving technology to other companies).
The British energy entrepreneur Greg Jackson is also on the bill, as is Shemara Wikramanayake, the chief executive of Macquarie, the Australian infrastructure giant that is understood to have criticised the government over its handling of the Thames Water crisis. Representatives from Macquarie were among a clutch of sovereign wealth and infrastructure investors to warn Steve Reed, the environment secretary, last month that water, electricity, gas and other regulated utilities are not investable given the UK’s refusal to allow Thames Water to increase bills so that it can invest in ageing infrastructure.
Starmer on stage with Schmidt echoes Sunak’s interview with Elon Musk, the boss of X, Tesla and SpaceX, at his AI summit a year ago. Musk has not been invited to the summit and said that people should not travel to the UK because of the August riots.
The department for business has been contacted for comment.