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The prime minister will host an event with X owner Elon Musk following the UK’s AI summit.

Rishi Sunak‘s X account posted on Monday that he will be “in conversation” with the Tesla and SpaceX boss on Thursday.

It is likely he will also be present in some way at the summit, although it is not clear whether he will attend in person or virtually.

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Reports emerged on Monday that the value of X had fallen to $19bn (£15.6bn) according to the company’s internal documents. Musk bought the site – then called Twitter – for $44bn (£36.2bn) last year.

US vice president Kamala Harris will also attend the summit.

While in the UK, she will discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict with Rishi Sunak during a whirlwind visit.

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The pair will also “consult on next steps in our support for Ukraine,” according to a White House official.

Ms Harris’s presence at the AI summit means that President Joe Biden is not making the trip.

Downing Street has denied Mr Sunak is feeling snubbed by international counterparts, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz all believed to be unlikely to show.

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An updated guest list could not be provided by the UK government on Monday, although a spokesperson claimed they “remain confident that we have brought together the right group of world experts in the AI space, leading businesses, and indeed world leaders and representatives who will be able to take on this vital issue”.

This came amid reports the invite to China has been upgraded to include asking President Xi Jinping to attend.

Downing Street insist it is a “significant achievement” to host the first AI safety summit of its kind.

After arriving in the UK on Tuesday, Ms Harris and her husband will travel to Winfield House in London.

She will give a “major policy speech” on the US’s vision for AI on Wednesday at the US embassy, before heading to Downing Street to meet with Mr Sunak.

Ms Harris will travel to Milton Keynes on Thursday to attend the AI summit, which will take place at Bletchley Park – where British codebreakers worked in secret, using early computer technology, during the Second World War.

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The vice president will then leave the UK later that day to return to the US.

Mr Biden signed an executive order earlier today aiming to guide the development of AI, requiring firms working on potentially dangerous models to share safety data with the government before their release, among other measures.

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Why Boris’s best mate is off to Reform

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Why Boris's best mate is off to Reform

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈       

Former Conservative chairman and friend of Boris Johnson – Sir Jake Berry – is defecting to Reform UK, causing more problems for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

On today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss if his defection will divide parts of Reform policy.

Elsewhere, the Anglo-French summit gets under way, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to announce a migration deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to deter small boat crossings.

Plus, chatter around Whitehall that No10 are considering a pre-summer reshuffle, but will it have any value?

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

The trial is part of Project Acacia, an initiative from the RBA exploring how digital money and tokenization could support financial markets in Australia.

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Starmer and Macron agree need for ‘new deterrent’ to stop small boat crossings

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Starmer and Macron agree need for 'new deterrent' to stop small boat crossings

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed the need for a “new deterrent” to deter small boats crossings in the Channel, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister met Mr Macron this afternoon as part of the French president’s state visit to the UK, which began on Tuesday.

High up the agenda for the two leaders is the need to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel, which Mr Macron said yesterday was a “burden” for both the UK and France.

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The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.

Sir Keir is hoping he can reach a deal for a one-in one-out return treaty with France, ahead of the UK-France summit on Thursday, which will involve ministerial teams from both nations.

The deal would see those crossing the Channel illegally sent back to France in exchange for Britain taking in any asylum seeker with a family connection in the UK.

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However, it is understood the deal is still in the balance, with some EU countries unhappy about France and the UK agreeing on a bilateral deal.

French newspaper Le Monde reports that up to 50 small boat migrants could be sent back to France each week, starting from August, as part of an agreement between Sir Keir and Mr Macron.

A statement from Downing Street said: “The prime minister met the French President Emmanuel Macron in Downing Street this afternoon.

“They reflected on the state visit of the president so far, agreeing that it had been an important representation of the deep ties between our two countries.

“Moving on to discuss joint working, they shared their desire to deepen our partnership further – from joint leadership in support of Ukraine to strengthening our defence collaboration and increasing bilateral trade and investment.”

It added: “The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions.

“The prime minister spoke of his government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.

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“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.”

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, seized on the statement to criticise Labour for scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, which the Tories claim would have sent asylum seekers “entering the UK illegally” to Rwanda.

He said in an online post: “We had a deterrent ready to go, where every single illegal immigrant arriving over the Channel would be sent to Rwanda.

“But Starmer cancelled this before it had a chance to start.

“Now, a year later, he’s realised he made a massive mistake. That’s why numbers have surged and this year so far has been the worst in history for illegal channel crossings.

“Starmer is weak and incompetent and he’s lost control of our borders.”

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