IF they all had a whip-round, they could probably plug the £37 billion black hole in Gordon Brown’s spending plans.

The world’s wealthiest businessmen and women are teaming up with the chancellor to find Britain’s next generation of tycoons.

Brown has persuaded dozens of company bosses including Bill Gates, founder chairman of Microsoft, to join him at a summit in London this month. The event is part of Brown’s drive to turn Britain into a nation of entrepreneurs.

The chancellor risks a row by associating himself with some of Britain’s highest paid executives. He was one of the fiercest opponents of big salaries for corporate bosses when Labour was in opposition, but is now a missionary for enterprise.

John Prescott, the deputy prime minister — not famous for his love of captains of industry — has been persuaded to take part, together with senior ministers including Charles Clarke, the education secretary, and Patricia Hewitt, the trade secretary.

Speculation that Tony Blair might be tiring of his job and may stand down before the end of 2004 has given credence to the view that Brown is establishing his authority as a future prime minister by hosting high-profile events. Whitehall insiders have dubbed the conference “Gordon’s first cabinet away-day”.

Some MPs believe that the chancellor is seeking to boost his credentials among middle-class voters by showing that he no longer believes in the “politics of envy”.

“People are seeing this as Gordon Brown setting out his stall for the future,” said a Whitehall official. Others say the summit is a sign of peace breaking out between the prime minister and his chancellor — and even that it is a sign that Blair has finally indicated to his old friend that he is about to stand down.

A member of Blair’s inner circle said: “Nobody knows what they have agreed in private, but they must have made some sort of pact — it’s so peaceful between them.”

The gathering at a London hotel will see Gates as the star guest. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, may also attend. Brown is a close ally of Greenspan and is said to have been influential in arranging his award of an honorary knighthood.

Other business stars will include Jean-Pierre Garnier, the controversial chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, Dame Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of the media group Pearson, Sir Niall FitzGerald, chairman of Unilever, Sir Tom McKillop, chief executive of AstraZeneca, and Eric Schmidt, chief executive of the internet firm Google.

More industry chiefs will come from BP and other oil companies, from Diageo, the drinks conglomerate, Wal-Mart, the supermarket chain, Monsanto and Goldman Sachs.

The turnout is a recognition of Brown’s ability to impress the business world and some of its best known magnates.

Gates, the world’s richest man, has already shown his willingness to foster enterprise in Britain by endowing a scholarship at Cambridge University. The chancellor often laments the inability of British researchers to capitalise on their ingenuity and hopes that people will learn from Gates.

Labour backbenchers may criticise Brown’s invitation to Garnier, whose multi-million pay deal was voted down by shareholders. Scardino is one of the highest paid women in Britain, earning an estimated £1.34m last year, and FitzGerald is believed to earn more than £2m a year.

Senior business executives who met Brown recently say that his stated belief in “enterprise”, one of his favourite mantras, is genuine although some businessmen have been frustrated by the amount of red tape introduced by Labour.

“You get the sense that he really does believe all this stuff about enterprise when you talk to him and you come away from the meeting quite impressed,” said one executive. “The trouble is, you then meet this raft of business regulations in the real world.”

Brown dreamt up his entrepreneurs’ summit on a visit to America in the summer when he held talks with John Snow, the US treasury secretary.

In a speech last year the chancellor declared his passion for entrepreneurship, announcing the initiative between British and American businessmen which will culminate in the London summit.

A Treasury spokesman said: “Encouraging young entrepreneurs and bringing together some of the brightest young UK and US businessmen and women can help to foster the enterprise culture in both countries.”

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