Labour's flagship investment summit plunged into a comedy of errors

The government's flagship investment summit came to an end this weekend as foreign business leaders avoided the event due to embarrassing mistakes.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is rolling out the red carpet for tomorrow's gathering of corporate and investment titans, including Larry Fink, head of US investment group BlackRock. He hopes they will bring their money back to the UK, creating wealth and jobs.

But there is a risk that the conference will be a laughing stock, partly because of its budget at the end of this month, which is expected to include higher taxes on wealth, including capital gains, which businesses say will stifle investment and hamper economic growth.

The City Hall meeting was also marred by a series of misfortunes, which included:

• Loud no-shows;
• Calling one of the world's most prominent businessmen by the wrong name;
• Inadvertently disclosing contact information for more than 100 guests;
• Send responses outside the office to delegates' urgent questions;
• The minister responsible for foreign investments has just sold her company to an American private equity fund;
• Elon Musk's non-invitation after the technology tycoon's quarrel with the prime minister on social media.

A number of major investments in the UK energy sector were announced ahead of the summit, including plans by Scottish Power's Spanish owner, Iberdrola, to spend up to £24 billion over the next four years.

But the conference was full of incompetence and mishaps. Jamie Dimon of Wall Street investment bank JP Morgan and Stephen Schwarzman of US buyout giant Blackstone are among the absentees, while other chief executives remain in doubt.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt will be present as the keynote speaker, but his name was listed as “Ed” on the media invite. And in a particularly embarrassing moment for the Labor Party, a row broke out with port operator DP World on the eve of the event, after

Ministers criticized the employment practices of its subsidiary, P&O Ferries.

Some delegates criticized the decision to hold the investment summit two weeks before the budget.

“Many major investors have postponed their decision to invest in the UK until they see the budget,” said Marco Forgione, head of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade. Labor only launched its long-awaited industrial strategy just before the summit, and was also missing an investment minister by 11am.

Darktrace co-founder Poppy Gustafsson was appointed to the position just four days before the event. It recently sold the cybersecurity company to a US private equity firm for £4.3 billion.

An email sent to the newspaper in error, revealing details of the delegates who added to the chaos.