Buon giorno Giorgia! Rishi Sunak to meet BFF Italian premier Meloni and speak at right-wing 'political festival' this weekend as No10 says they are are 'likeminded on immigration' -  and Elon Musk will be there too

Rishi Sunak and Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni are 'likeminded' on immigration, Downing Street said today as it was confirmed the PM will speak at a festival organised by her right-wing party. 

Rome tonight confirmed Mr Sunak will speak at an event in Italy this weekend that has previously been attended by Hungary's Viktor Orban and ex-Trump aide Steve Bannon.

The four-day Atreju event starts tomorrow, with X and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk also expected to speak. 

No10 today refused to discuss the PM's travel plans for a weekend when he could be expected to meet his own backbenchers to discuss his plan to start Rwanda deportation flights next year.

But his press secretary said: 'They obviously get on and they came in at a similar time. But most of all they have a like mind on wanting to act on illegal migration, so they formed an effective working relationship on that - and with other countries of a similar mind.'

Ms Meloni, 46, has struck up a warm friendship with the PM since taking office around the same time as he entered No10. 

They have been seen getting on well at international events and also during a visit to Downing Street earlier this year.

The festival is named after a character in the 1980s fantasy film The NeverEnding Story and was founded by Ms Meloni in 1998.

Initially it was linked to the youth wing of the National Alliance, the successor to a neo-fascist party started by allies of Benito Mussolini.

At this year's edition, held in the ancient Roman Castel Sant'Angelo fortress near the Vatican, one of the other notable guests will be Spanish far-right opposition leader Santiago Abascal. 

Mr Musk has accepted an invitation from Ms Meloni to attend the gathering. Last night he replied 'yes' to a post on social media platform X, which he owns, saying he had 'reportedly accepted' the invite, and linking to an Italian newspaper article.

The article, from Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, said Musk would be a guest at Atreju,' a four-day festival starting on Thursday that is organised by Meloni's Brothers of Italy party.

Atreju's X account confirmed Musk's attendance separately, saying he was the 'mysterious' guest mentioned in a previous post, adding that he would come on Saturday.

Musk had previously travelled to Rome in June to meet Meloni. He told public broadcaster RAI after that meeting that he had discussed with her possible remedies to Italy's demographic crisis and risks posed by artificial  intelligence (AI).

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12859585/Rishi-Sunak-BFF-Giorgia-Meloni-right-wing-political-festival.html