LONDON - BUSINESSMAN Alan Sugar, famous for his 'You're fired!' catchphrase on the British version of television show The Apprentice, has donated £400,000 (S$849,000) to the Labour party, a party spokesman said on Tuesday.
His endorsement could help repair damage to Labour ahead of the May 6 general election, after several major firms last week said they backed main rival the Conservatives' plan to scrap Labour's proposed one per cent increase in payroll tax.
Business groups and more than 60 large employers criticised Labour leader Prime Minister Gordon Brown's proposal to raise the National Insurance payroll tax, saying it would cost jobs and damage recovery from the recession.
'Lord Sugar has announced he is making a donation of £400,000 as he has done in previous elections. Lord Sugar is a great example and a powerful voice for British enterprise,' Peter Mandelson, Labour's business secretary said.
Safeguarding economic growth and cutting Britain's record budget deficit are the main points over which the election is being fought, as the country emerges from the worst recession since World War Two.
Brown recruited the blunt-speaking Sugar, a long-standing friend, to take on a business advisory role in June last year, specialising in small and medium-sized companies. Sugar joined the unelected House of Lords at that point.
The entrepreneur became a household name chairing The Apprentice show, which put candidates through 12 weeks of business-related tasks in order to win a job with Sugar.
The former Tottenham Hotspur chairman in the 1990s, left school at 16 and sold car aerials out of a van, before going on to create a business empire which made him one of the country's wealthiest men. -- REUTERS
His endorsement could help repair damage to Labour ahead of the May 6 general election, after several major firms last week said they backed main rival the Conservatives' plan to scrap Labour's proposed one per cent increase in payroll tax.
Business groups and more than 60 large employers criticised Labour leader Prime Minister Gordon Brown's proposal to raise the National Insurance payroll tax, saying it would cost jobs and damage recovery from the recession.
'Lord Sugar has announced he is making a donation of £400,000 as he has done in previous elections. Lord Sugar is a great example and a powerful voice for British enterprise,' Peter Mandelson, Labour's business secretary said.
Safeguarding economic growth and cutting Britain's record budget deficit are the main points over which the election is being fought, as the country emerges from the worst recession since World War Two.
Brown recruited the blunt-speaking Sugar, a long-standing friend, to take on a business advisory role in June last year, specialising in small and medium-sized companies. Sugar joined the unelected House of Lords at that point.
The entrepreneur became a household name chairing The Apprentice show, which put candidates through 12 weeks of business-related tasks in order to win a job with Sugar.
The former Tottenham Hotspur chairman in the 1990s, left school at 16 and sold car aerials out of a van, before going on to create a business empire which made him one of the country's wealthiest men. -- REUTERS
