An end to celebrity politics

April 14, 2007:  Brown: 'Britain has fallen out of love with celebrity'

Gordon Brown claims today that the country is turning away from a celebrity culture and insists his seriousness is in tune with a new spirit of the times.

June 5, 2009: Alan Sugar gets government job as Gordon Brown reshuffles top team

Gordon Brown sensationally promoted Sir Alan Sugar to a new enterprise role in government today as the prime minister was forced into a make or break reshuffle amid a fourth Cabinet resignation in four days.

The prime minister awarded the entrepreneur and star of The Apprentice television show, a peerage a role in government as he attempted to shore up his increasingly beleaguered premiership.