Yahoo News You're hired! Lord Sugar backs Boris Johnson for PM
Entrepreneur and The Apprentice TV star Lord Sugar has backed Boris Johnson to become the next Prime Minister.
The former Labour party member said Johnson should get the top job in the country because he is popular with the public - and can stop Jeremy Corbyn getting into Number 10.
In an interview with the Press Association on Friday morning, Lord Sugar said: “I think that Boris will get the job and from my point of view I will be pleased with that, because I’m thinking beyond Brexit and to the next election and I think Boris is actually quite liked by the population.
I seriously back @BorisJohnson to be the new PM . The public like him and he will have a good chance of winning the general election in 2021 if not before. Any one who can stop @jeremycorbyn from becoming PM has my backing .
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) June 14, 2019
He added: “And while the population should not vote for a person they like – they should vote for the policies – the reality is they don’t.
“They vote for someone who they like.
“And Boris has got a good chance because he’s a likeable chap and from my point of view, anybody who can stop Corbyn being elected, I would back them.”
He also made the same point on Twitter and on Sky News in an interview.
He told the broadcaster that he was “delighted”that he could be the next Prime Minister.
“Anybody who is going to stop Corbyn getting into power, is going to be backed by me,” he told the broadcaster.
He added that he believed Johnson could grab Brexit “by the horns”.
Johnson is the frontrunner to become the next PM after topping the first leadership poll by a big margin on Thursday.
Lord Sugar was a Labour member from 1997 until 2015, when he quit because he was “losing confidence” in the party.
He was also offered a job in the Cabinet by the last Labour leader, Gordon Brown.
Sugar was also a major Labour party donor.
Previously, he has admitted he was a big supporter of Margaret Thatcher.
But getting the backing of the former Tottenham Hotspur-owner may not be a good omen for Johnson.
In 2016, he urged Londoners not to vote for Sadiq Khan in the mayoral elections. Khan won, succeeding Johnson in the post.
But he is certainly no fan of Corbyn.
Late last year, he announced in a TV interview that he would leave the country if a Corbyn-government was elected to power.
He has also called the Labour leader an “idiot”.
