New Labour sweet on Alan Sugar

Sugar, who registered his approval of Labour shortly before the general election, was today accompanied by chancellor Gordon Brown as he made a speech to scholars at his old school in Hackney, east London. Sugar was speaking at his alma mater as part of a government-backed tour to promote a new generation of entrepreneurs. Eleven more UK schools have been pencilled in for the Sugar treatment under the banner 'You Can Do It Too'.

Sugar said that he hoped to "burn the spirit of entrepreneurship [sic] into them ... [and show] that business can be fun". Chrissie Farley, principal of Hackney Community College (Brooke House when Sugar was a student), said Sugar's 1960 report stated: "He has ability, but seems afraid to use it."

However, any ideas that the famously blunt Betacam Amstrad chairman is becoming more mellow should be cast aside. He gave short shrift to an interviewer on Radio 4's Today programme this morning when he was ragged about his record as chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, pointing out that the value of his investment has grown ten-fold since taking over at the club.