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Boris Johnson has banned government ministers from next month’s Davos summit of global political and business elites.
The oft-criticised World Economic Forum takes place in the Swiss ski resort from January 21 to 24, days before the UK leaves the EU on January 31.
But the prime minister does not believe the meeting is a priority weeks into a new government, despite Britain eyeing up new trade deals around the world after Brexit.
A government source said: “Our focus is on delivering for the people, not champagne with billionaires.”
Johnson believes the UK is already deeply engaged with political and trade partners across the world and will soon play host to world leaders at the COP climate change conference in Glasgow in November.
The move was branded “ridiculous” by Rupert Harrison, former chief of staff to ex-chancellor George Osborne.
Harrison, who now works for investment manager BlackRock, said: “They need to get out of campaign mode.
“There’s nowhere you can make your case to more inward investors into the UK more efficiently.”
When Johnson attended the summit as London mayor in 2013, he suggested that “you just have to chuck a snowball into a cocktail party at Davos” to secure big investment for UK infrastructure projects, which he has now made key to his premiership.