Across the pond

Brown apparently has been winning back support today with his much changed reshuffle, which might keep him in office for a few more weeks. But his master stroke, bringing the the Sunday night reality television star, Alan Sugar, into the government, sounds the death knell for old Labour as well as new Labour. Sugar may be good for a hundred thousand or so,but the only Labour funders left with the millions needed to fight an election are the trade unions.

They are unlikely to rally to the cry of ‘You’re fired’ and Sugar’s jovial bullying. The kind of enterprising small businessmen Sugar is likely to encourage are those who don’t want any trade unionists interfering with their efforts to keep costs down to the consumer.

Sugar was a seriously good entrepreneur once. But that was in the 1980s when he pioneered the most successful British personal computer, the Amstrad PCW, a splendid low cost product. But The Apprentice fosters the barrow boys. The emphasis is on the selling.

And as for Brown’s promised polical reforms, it is a step backwards. Sugar has not been elected by anyone, and once given his seat in the House of Lords, he cannot be de-selected by anyone.

How’s that for restoring faith in our democracy?