Keir Starmer took a side swipe at Boris Johnson’s infamous “f*** business” comment and promised to turn a page on the chaos of Brexit in his keynote speech to business leaders at the investment summit.

The prime minister acknowledged that Britain’s standing in the world has been damaged as a result of the EU referendum result in 2016 and what followed but has made a priority to fix it.

He told the audience: “We are determined to improve [Britain’s global standing]. Determined to repair Britain’s brand as an open outward looking confident trading nation.

“I see this as diplomatic necessity and I think it is clear what I priority I have given it in the first 100 days of this government all around the world.

“People want to know that Britain can be a stable trusted, rule abiding partner as we have always been.

“But somehow during the whole circus that followed Brexit the last government made a few people less sure about.

Needlessly insulting our closest allies. And of course a few choice Anglo Saxon phrases for business.

“Well no more we have turned the page on that decisively and we will use that reset for growth.”

Customers are being urged to “urgently” pressure MPs over a post-Brexit wine tax dubbed Rishi Sunak’s “sneaky Sauvignon surcharge”.

Major wine companies such as Majestic have asked customers to write to their member of parliament to highlight the issue before Rachel Reeves‘ Budget at the end of this month – to “get this ill-conceived policy stopped before it is too late”.

A £1.1 billion investment into London’s Stansted airport over five years has been announced by the prime minister at the International Investment Summit.

Of this, £600m will go towards expanding the terminal by a third, while £500m will be spent on improving the terminal and the airport estate.

The investment will also fund a 14.3 megawatt on-site solar farm to meet the airport’s energy demands.

Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, said: “We have been steadfast in our commitment to help British businesses grow and in turn boost the UK’s economy. This announcement is a clear signal that Britain is open for business.”

Asked about healthcare, the prime minister says the UK is rightly proud of the NHS, but that if Labour put more money into the health service “as it is,” it won’t be improved.

Instead, he says, it must be reformed and reimagined through AI and tech. The prime minister says, for example, he has seen AI used for early cancer detection.

He adds that it is his ambition for people to look back on the current government in 50 years and be as proud of its record on healthcare as the postwar Labour government, which famously established the NHS.

The former boss of Google has said he was “shocked” to hear Labour has become “strongly in favour of growth”.

In a culmination of Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to restore his party’s relationship with business, which collapsed under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, he is sat alongside the tech giant’s former CEO Eric Schmidt and GSK chief Dame Emma Walmsley pitching for investors to pile money into Britain.

The PM’s inaugural investment summit, which has brought hundreds of executives from some of the world’s biggest firms to London, is a sign of how much he has changed the Labour Party since succeeding Mr Corbyn in 2020.

Responding to Mr Schmidt’s apparent jibe, Sir Keir said “wealth creation is the number one mission of a Labour government”. To which Mr Schmidt replied: “Did you hear that?”

It is hard to imagine a similar event taking place under Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the party, when business chiefs shunned Labour for being anti-business, something Mr Corbyn claimed was “complete nonsense”.

Speaking about the UK’s world standing, Sir Keir says that Brexit adversely affected the country’s international reputation.

He says that regardless of why people voted, “the impression was given that the UK was more interested in turning in on itself, becoming more isolated, and less interested in the outside world like we once were.”

The PM says that he will “reset” to make it clear to investors that this is not the case and that the UK wants to resume its former place on the world stage.

He adds that he is looking to build bridges with counterparts in Europe, having met several leaders across the continent in his first 100 days.

Moving to a different format, Sir Keir is joined by Eric Shmidt, former CEO of Google, for a panel discussion between the two.

Asked what he wants to achieve most in power, Sir Keir says the government is “mission-driven,” with growth being the number one most important thing.

Responding to the prime minister’s argument that now is the right time to invest, Mr Schmidt says “I was shocked when Labour became strongly in favour of growth.”

“Maybe you need a minister of anti-regulation,” he jokes, before moving to the more serious point that a democracy like the UK has “so many ways in which people can say no.”

He says the business community would rather there was a more centralised decision-making process, telling the prime minister that delay “is killing you.”

“Some people may be wondering about our labour market policies” says Sir Keir, addressing reports that some business leaders are uneasy about Labour’s plans to strengthen workers’ rights in the UK.

“Let me be clear: they’re pro-growth,” he says, “workers with more security at work, with higher wages, that is a better growth model for this country.”

Here is Sir Keir’s four-part pitch for private sector investment in the UK:

Stability. The PM says Labour will end “sticking plaster politics” that make it hard for investors to see the true value of their spending. He adds that the party’s large majority is a unique advantage and that the new government has shown a commitment to long-term thinking.

Strategy. Sir Keir gives the examples of the new National Wealth Fund and Great British Energy as ways in which Labour is opening the door to private sector investment. He says the government is willing to “share this risk.”

Global standing. “We’re determined to improve it,” says the prime minister, “to repair Britain’s brand as an open, outward-looking, confident trading nation.” This reputation slipped during the “circus” that followed Brexit, he adds.

Regulation. Sir Keir begins by acknowledging that some regulation is necessary, as evidenced by the recent report into Grenfell Tower. However, he adds that regulation must not inhibit growth and investment, indicating a desire to strike a balance.

Attempting to woo investors, Sir Keir lists all the virtues of the UK from its education system, to leading positions in industries of the future like AI. He adds that the UK is a “country where business thrives.”

Acknowledging to the potential problems, Sir Keir says “our public finances need the tough love of prudence,” adding that “we will fix our public services, we will stabilise our economy, and we will do it quickly.”

He returns to Labour’s criticism of “inheritance” from the previous Conservative government, which he says threatens to “mist up the shop window of Britain.”

All of this is to should business leaders “total confidence that this is the moment to back Britain,” he says.