UK government tells Lord Sugar: '˜You're hired'

Former Labour peer Lord Sugar was today named the UK government's enterprise tsar as it seeks to encourage more people to start their own business.

Lord Sugar is back as a government enterprise tsar. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire

The entrepreneur, who briefly held the same role under the leadership of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, also said he wants see an increase in the take-up of apprenticeships south of the Border.

Sugar, who quit the Labour party last year due to its “negative business policies” in the run-up to the general election, said: “I built successful businesses with the support of hundreds of talented young people who learned their skills on the job – exactly the kinds of skills you learn in an apprenticeship.

“But not enough of our young people know about apprenticeships and what they offer, and too few feel empowered to set up their own business.”

UK skills minister Nick Boles said the Amstrad founder and star of BBC reality show The Apprentice “has huge credibility among young people and I am delighted that he has agreed to help the government bang the drum for apprenticeships and enterprise”.

In his new role, Sugar – who left school at the age of 16 and was appointed to the House of Lords as Baron Sugar of Clapton in 2009 – will be carrying out a series of roadshow events, speaking to school leavers and businesses, as part of the UK government’s ambition to get three million people into apprenticeship across England by 2020.