Lord Sugar

The BBC are trying to defend the indefensible - that Alan Sugar become a member of the government and also continue to lead one of their successful programmes, in both cases in the area of entrepreneurial promotion.

They try smokescreen - Lords Whinston and Bragg, both avowed Labour supporters, but they are not members of the government, they tried Ken Clark and his series on Jazz, but he was not then in the shadow cabinet, and there seems little direct connection between jazz and parliamentary politics.

The question is quite simple - the government can appoint any adviser it thinks can help, BUT HE DOES NOT NEED TO BE A PEER. The have appointed hundreds, possibly thousands over the past 12 years who have not been elevated.

The difference here is surely that they want Sugar to be able to speak in debates and give answers in the House of Lords. His record over the past few years as an entrepreneur has not been the most outstanding, so others could do the job equally well. They want him as an icon - poor boy made good, and a labour supporter, on the TV and in parliament, in the run up to the next election.

The appointment is all about bolstering Brown's position - we have been in recession for a year now, so why was Sugar not asked before?

And the BBC meekly falls into line with its political fellow-travellers.