Mountford was in the privileged position of being able to judge how much he had changed – or not – as a result of his Apprentice-found fame. ‘He’s an extremely able person. He’s still very much hands-on. He hasn’t been changed by fame and fortune, which says a lot about him. He has very strong family values. He’s a thoroughly decent bloke and he will listen’ – she inserted a telling pause – ‘on occasions.’
It seems he had proved an unconventional but enjoyable client for Mountford. ‘He was very different from the sort of client one had had before,’ she said. ‘He questions everything and never accepts things just because he’s told them. He’s very commercial and always holds you to an estimate. Don’t give an estimate of what your fees will be if you’re working for him and think you can increase them at the end.’
The admiration and respect is evidently mutual, and Sugar has had nice things to say about her too, which is something she appreciates. ‘It’s nice to get praise,’ she said. ‘Over the years I’ve built up a good working relationship: he knows I’ll tell him what I think without worrying if he agrees or not. He doesn’t like “yes” men. He’s a very shrewd, clever man – so he’s interesting to work with. He doesn’t have small talk – he won’t ask about your holiday. But he’ll talk at length when he gets an idea.’
She enjoyed her work on The Apprentice with him and this was once more a forum where he sought and listened to Mountford’s wisdom. That said, the pair did not always see the field the same way. ‘We have quite a long briefing session before the boardroom … on who did well and who did badly. He takes our views into account. Sometimes we know who’s going out – it’s obvious. At other times it may be one of two – it depends on what he’s looking for, whether it’s someone good at sales, for instance, or a more managerial type of person. But someone whose sales technique he admires I’d probably never buy from. It’s horses for courses.’
Mountford was becoming a star of the show and commentators were quick to pick up on her emerging cult status. As Anna Pickard wrote in the Guardian, ‘Mountford’s signature look is the rolling of her eyes to heaven. Indeed, most of her loudest comments about the candidates are almost entirely nonverbal. The eye-rolling is frequently accompanied by a heartfelt sigh; in extremis, a sickened pursing of the lips. Her reaction to any act of stupidity is to drop her jaw in shock and amazement. Complete idiocy causes an additional flaring of the nostrils.’
The Irish News also noted the many mannerisms of Mountford: ‘Silver-haired with piercing blue eyes, her armoury of expressive eye-rolling and disgusted sighs has effectively ruined the chances of several candidates and her exchanges with fellow aide Nick Hewer have become some of the highlights of the series.’
Alex Clark, writing in the Observer, put the lawyer in a tradition of posh femininity and he liked what he was seeing. ‘It’s possible Margaret Mountford is the stern headmistress I never had, not coming from the kind of background that involved carpetings after high-jinks in the dorm or the battle to make the lacrosse team; it’s also possible that she embodies a certain sort of female posh competence that makes the rest of us feel like we’ve permanently got a ladder in our tights and an uncertain grasp of Keynesian economics. Stella Rimington, Judi Dench, Stephanie Flanders (especially Stephanie Flanders) all have the same effect. Not Kirstie Allsopp, though, who attempts to carry off the same effect but looks like she might from time to time have a secret weep in a corner. Certainly, Mountford seems more suited to the task of whipping the rabble before her into shape than Sugar himself.’
In Series 4, her fame was to hit new heights when she had a nation in stitches of laughter over her comment that Edinburgh University ‘isn’t what it used to be’. Delivered in true dry Mountford style, this quip provoked a defensive response from the educational establishment. ‘The University of Edinburgh is one of the UK’s most successful and popular universities,’ a spokesman said. ‘It is regularly ranked among the top 50 universities in the world and is currently going through a period of unprecedented growth.’ Also memorable from that series was her stunned expression when one of the candidates overcelebrated a boardroom victory.
As well as her cult status, Mountford has also become a fine example for how well women can do in business. She puts some of this down to her Ulster background. ‘I think coming from Northern Ireland gives you a lot of common sense and a basic level-headedness that stands you in very good stead,’ she said. ‘A lot of what’s required is a commonsense approach; much of business depends on that, actually. I think the basic message to give is that women have to believe in their own ability – no one else is going to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself. Though it’s not the only answer to say “just go for it”, if you don’t go for it you’re never going to get it and I think people need to be able to stand on their own feet a lot more and have more confidence in their ability. I accepted the invitation to do this because I thought it’s something different. I’ve never had anything to do with television, it was a world I knew nothing about. I had no idea it would become so popular.
‘As a City lawyer you’re pretty faceless outside the clients, the accountants, those you deal with. Now, people come up to me in the street, they feel they know me. I was walking along and someone said, “That’s Alan Sugar’s woman.” I was very innocent about it really. The recognition took me by surprise. I don’t mind when people come up and say, “Who’s going to win?” But sometimes they invade your personal space. Say you’re in a check-in queue, there’s 25 minutes of queue ahead and the person next to you says, “You’re from The Apprentice, aren’t you?” They want to stand really close and go on and on about the series. I don’t like that.’
Alongside Mountford on The Apprentice is the simply brilliant Nick Hewer. Hewer started off in public relations during the Swinging Sixties. He formed his own PR company and quickly built an impressive client list that included the secretariat of the Aga Khan, based in Chantilly, France. He began representing Amstrad – and Sugar – in 1983. He became a trusted and valued ally for Sugar as he built his enormous business and property empire. On The Apprentice, he was just as vital for Sugar, and became an unlikely star in the process. As the Independent put it, ‘With his silver, military haircut, frameless specs and deadpan intellect, Nick Hewer is not your average television star.’ But he was a popular one thanks to the sharp appearance and intellect he displayed on the show.
Asked about the candidates, he was dismissive of some of them, but also found a moment of sympathy for the pressure they are under. ‘I’m not sure they brief themselves that well,’ said Hewer of some Apprentice candidates. ‘Some hadn’t even bothered to find out what Alan Sugar’s businesses were, which was extraordinary. It’s a real pressure cooker. They’re working day and night. The cameras are there all the time; all their decisions are being accelerated and they don’t have time to consider how to be clever. I found it tiring just watching them. Heaven knows what they must feel.’
During the lengthy filming process for each show, he is forced to spend a lot of time in their presence. Despite his respect for them, he did not become especially close to any of them. ‘I don’t chummy up to them,’ he said. ‘I think I’m considered rather sour. They try to cosy up to you, of course, but you can’t afford to get friendly. You have to stand back and be impartial.’
But Hewer’s fear that he is seen as ‘sour’ by the candidates might be misplaced. For Mrs Motormouth herself, Katie Hopkins, is most complimentary of him. ‘He’s a very attractive man with true charisma,’ she purred. ‘He knows how to talk to a woman. He once told me my lips were made for sin – but sadly I didn’t get to use them on him.’
The boardroom scenes are one area where Hewer is encouraged not to be impartial, for his advice is sought by Sir Alan here. Again, Hewer feels sympathy for the candidates as the boardroom tension is racked up. ‘People have been reduced to nervous wrecks,’ he said. ‘Sugar’s got this 20-second black stare, where his pupils appear to complet
ely dilate and they go right through you and he’s just silent. It’s very unnerving. And Margaret and I feel the tension, too. He doesn’t tell us who he’s going to fire or keep. And he’s invariably got it right, over the whole series.’
Hewer’s respect for both Sugar and the candidates is unflinching. With his newfound Apprentice fame, Hewer is often approached on the street, but anyone who wants to criticise the candidates gets short shrift from the PR guru. ‘People are always saying to me, “God, what useless candidates! Where did you get them from?”’ he said. ‘They don’t realise what enormous pressure they’re under. The tasks are pretty much undertaken back to back – they’re not a week apart, as they are on TV – and they go from one to the next with very little sleep, always having to watch their backs in case someone stabs them. For the fish-selling task in [Series 4], we were out at five in the morning, and went to bed around three the following morning, to be back in the boardroom at ten. They’ve got to have tremendous stamina.’ And he should know, for he and Mountford need it too just to keep up with the candidates. ‘We’re on test in the tasks, too,’ he explained. ‘We’ve got to be scrupulously fair, honest and accurate. We’re writing pages and pages of who said what to whom, what was the reaction, etc. Then we go into briefings with Alan and the producers that go on for three or four hours. His ability to absorb information is astounding.’
These are kind words about Sugar from Hewer, and, again, it seems Sugar reciprocates. On his own retirement, Hewer received a wonderfully generous gesture from Sugar, who laid on a dinner at the Dorchester for Hewer and 100 invited guests. ‘Sir Alan is a very generous friend,’ he said. ‘The best thing about working for him was there was always something going on. He has vibrancy about him.’
A lesser – but still significant – cult star of the series is Sugar’s ‘secretary’, Frances. Sugar had a secretary called Frances Penn for many, many years, but the one you see on the screen is not, in fact, the real Frances, but an actress called Samantha Moon. Although the real Frances was not to appear in the series, as a mark of respect, her name was used for the role. Her phone calls have become a popular part of the show.
So who is the woman who plays the part of Frances? Once a receptionist at production company Talkback Thames, Moon has been playing the role since the beginning of the third series. ‘Sam has always been a bit of a drama queen,’ said her father Alan. ‘She loved acting at school and went down to London about eight years ago with a little sack on her back determined to make it. She has met the real Frances and they got on, but Miss Penn isn’t really front-of-house material. This is television and Sam fits the bill.’
Sam’s mother, Gwen, says that the family were initially told to keep the truth behind her daughter’s role a secret, but people began to recognise her voice and put two and two together.
Sam gets recognised on the street and feels she has to pretend that she is indeed Sir Alan’s real secretary, and has become a cult figure herself in the process. One viewer wrote on an Apprentice fansite, ‘I know the only lines she’s ever delivered are “Hello” and “Sir Alan will see you now” but somehow these smoothly delivered lines are always a highlight. I’m forever waiting for the day when she will say something else. Frances makes the show for me. She’s an Apprentice legend!’
Candidate Ghazal Asif is a fan, too, and says that he is far from alone in admiring her. ‘Sam ties in with the look of the show. She is a very attractive and polished girl. She comes across as very astute. All the boys fancied her. She was almost too good to be true.’
Indeed, in Series 4, when Essex satellite engineer Simon Smith was fired, he broke with tradition to speak to ‘Frances’ on his way out. When she told him, ‘The taxi is ready for you now,’ Smith became the first candidate to say, ‘Thank you, Frances.’ This was typical of his old-fashioned manner. ‘She’s really lovely,’ Smith explained afterwards. ‘You go in at your lowest ebb because you’ve just come off the task and she always looks and smells great.’
In her role as Frances, it is Sam’s job to wake up the contestants each morning for their task. ‘She will get a call from the production team at 5.30am and will then have to call the candidates at the home to tell them where and when to meet for filming,’ said her mother Gwen. ‘Then she will do a full day’s work at Talkback as a production assistant and in the evenings she will go off to do her filming for The Apprentice, which can last until 10pm. She will even be filming at weekends.’
But she doesn’t actually meet the contestants face-to-face until they come into the boardroom to hear their fate. ‘She is the first person they see then and she says they are obviously very nervous,’ said her father. ‘Sam has to put on this air of being a right snob, although some of the candidates still try to chat her up and give her little gifts.’
During the last series, Sam had to use her own clothes while playing the role. But this year she has been given her own allowance for outfits. ‘She has to have a different outfit for each show and, as you can imagine, she has a large wardrobe now,’ said her mother. ‘But she doesn’t get paid anything extra for doing The Apprentice. Her only perk is the clothing allowance.’
With even the supporting figures achieving such a popular status, The Apprentice was confirmed as a British television institution. Meanwhile, the true star of the show – Sir Alan Sugar – was about to cash in brilliantly on his decades of hard work.
CHAPTER NINE
INTO TOMORROW
In 2007, BSkyB bought Amstrad for £125 million. Having worked with Rupert Murdoch on the launch of Sky, and been praised warmly by the media mogul, Sir Alan Sugar was now selling his company to Murdoch. Sugar, who set up the company nearly 40 years previously and had been the leader and driving force behind its success, was pleased with the deal, which was worth £34 million to Sugar personally. (It was proving a profitable time for him. The previous month, he had sold his Tottenham Hotspur shares for £25 million.) He said, ‘I cannot imagine a better home for the Amstrad business and its talented people. Our companies share the entrepreneurial spirit of bringing innovation to the largest number of customers. Sky is a great British success story. I’m proud to have worked so closely with it, and I look forward to continuing to play a part in this exciting business.’
James Murdoch of BSkyB was also delighted, saying, ‘Sky and Amstrad have had a long and positive relationship. The acquisition accelerates supply chain improvement and will help us to drive innovation and efficiency for the benefit of our customers.’
Amstrad and BSkyB had indeed enjoyed a close relationship for some time, and Sugar’s firm supplied around 30 per cent of the set-top boxes bought by Sky. However, he recognised that there was a vulnerability in the way Amstrad focused so much on this client. ‘I turned 60 this year; I’ve done 40 years of hustling in this business. I have to start thinking about my team of loyal staff, many of whom have been around me for a very long time. There’s a certain culture there that will exist. It’s not a case of letting it go, it’s a case of moving the company on to something more positive.’ He added, ‘The good news for my employees is that they’ve now got a secure future with great opportunities The bad news is that I’m still going to be around for a while, so nothing changes at Amstrad.’
That ‘while’ came to an emotional and powerful end when Sugar stepped down from Amstrad in 2008. ‘This is a move that has been planned for a while and it’s the right time for me to step down from my role at Amstrad. The past 40 years have seen Amstrad grow from a start-up business to the success story that it is today, which is credit to the talented and loyal team here. I have decided that it is the right time to step back from my role at Amstrad.’
The reins were handed to Amstrad managing director Alun Webber, of whom Sugar thoroughly approved. He said, ‘Alun has worked closely with Amstrad over a number of years and is the right person to build on the success that we have seen to date. I step back knowing that the company’s future is in good hands.’
On stepping
down, might Sugar have begun to consider his own mortality, as many do when they retire? If not, then perhaps an event the previous year might have made him realise how fragile life can be. In July 2007, there were sensational media reports that Sugar had ‘cheated death’ in a ‘plane-crash drama’. However, as Sugar was to reveal, the truth was somewhat less dramatic. The incident took place at the Barton Aerodrome near Manchester, on a rainy, thunderous day of weather as Sir Alan attempted to land his four-seat Cirrus SR20 private jet. This jet is noted for being the first production general-aviation aircraft equipped with a parachute for spin recovery, which can be deployed in an emergency to lower the entire aircraft to the ground safely.
Sir Alan Sugar Page 18
