Sir Alan Sugar’s appointment as the government’s enterprise champion has this week put not just his management style but his entire business record under the spotlight. His robust personality has long divided audiences on the BBC reality television show The Apprentice. Now some entrepreneurs are questioning whether he is the best person to promote their cause.

Before his unlikely rise to TV stardom, Sir Alan was best known for Amstrad, the consumer electronics business he founded in 1968 and floated on the stock exchange in 1980.