Elon Musk (world’s richest person), has retaliated in his characteristic style on X after denied an invite to the UK government’s International Investment Summit. “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts,” Musk said on X. He has been deprived of an invite due to his social media posts during last month’s riots, the BBC understands.

Earlier this month, the government had definitely released some prisoners to reduce prison overcrowding, but no people serving sentences for sex offences were included. Following chaos and rioting across the UK in August, some people were imprisoned for encouraging unrest on social media.

Violence spread across the nation after a stabbing attack in Southport, in which three children attending a dance class were slain. At the time, Mr Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter), predicting civil war in the UK and repeatedly attacking the PM. The summit in October is the vital moment that PM Sir Keir Starmer hopes will attract tens of billions of pounds in inward funding for business from the world’s major investors.

Mr Musk got an invite to last year’s event but did not attend. But he took a starring role in November’s AI Summit, including a fireside chat with then-PM Rishi Sunak. The government refused to comment on the tech entrepreneur not being extended an invite to the summit and the billionaire’s reaction to the decision. But Jeremy Hunt (the former Conservative chancellor and now the shadow chancellor), told the BBC it was a “big loss” not to welcome Mr Musk at the summit. “He told me last year he was planning a new car plant in Europe and had not decided where but the UK was a candidate,” claimed Mr Hunt.

During the August riots, Musk shared and then deleted, a conspiracy theory about the UK setting up “detainment camps” on the Falkland Islands for rioters, on X (the social media platform he owns). At that juncture ministers said his comments were “totally unjustifiable” and “pretty deplorable”. The BBC believes this is why he has not been invited to join hundreds of the world’s biggest investors at the event on 14 October.

David Yelland (a PR specialist and former editor of the Sun newspaper), told the BBC that if Mr Musk were to join the summit, it would be “reputationally disastrous for the whole event” “He’s a fan of free speech but he behaves like a child and he post things that are deeply inaccurate and extremely damaging,” he said. “This is just not a guy that is saying stuff in the pub. This is a guy that is encouraging untruths around the world.” “Just because he’s so wealthy, just because he’s so influential doesn’t make any difference. At some point we have to stand up against him, no matter what the consequences are.”