You're fired, Lord Alan Sugar tells fundamentalists

HE IS a former bugler with the Jewish Lads' Brigade who has latterly expressed his scepticism about organised religion.

So it is perhaps not surprising that Lord Alan Sugar was far from pleased to discover that a fundamentalist Christian group has used him as a figurehead for their latest recruitment drive.

Assemblies of God (AoG), which operates 50 churches throughout Scotland, used images of the 63-year-old and his hit TV show, The Apprentice, in an attempt to attract new followers.

Lord Sugar features on the front cover of the November edition of AoG's official magazine, Re, in an apparent endorsement of the church, which dismisses evolution as a "delusion".

The religious group uses an article, entitled 'The Business of Faith', to urge its believers to adopt Lord Sugar's marketing techniques when attempting to convert non-believers.

It states: "Born with a flair to spot and act on opportunities, we'd do well to take a leaf out of Lord Sugar's book.

"Like Sugar, we need to have a relentless energy when it comes to outreach. In business terms, it should be the easiest thing in the world for us to promote faith in Christ because we believe 100% in our product.

"Some people won't come to faith on the first attempt, but, like Lord Sugar, persist and persevere."

Lord Sugar's spokesman, David Fraser, said the Amstrad founder was annoyed by the attempt to hijack his image and wanted to publicly disassociate himself from this group.

He said: "Lord Sugar has no involvement whatsoever with this organisation and we have had no approach for permission for his name or likeness to be used in this article."