Sugar told the Beeb that he was “the right kind of person” for the job because he “cuts to the chase”. So, we could see the straight-talking Amstrad founder stand for the next mayoral election in 2012.

He continued: “Common sense prevails that someone like me who tends to cut to the chase, so to speak, would be the right kind of person to look after a city like London, but who knows about the politics.

“I’ve always been one of those people that walks in the office in the morning and says ’this is what we’re going to do’. I don’t think you can do that in politics and government.”

Sir Alan, who has been serving PM Gordon Brown in an advisory capacity, would be an ideal candidate for the Labour strategists, who are keen to recruit a senior businessman for the race in four years.

Sugar will no doubt benefit from his close relationship with Brown, but he could also face some stiff competition. Livingstone has been hinting that he might re-join the race, hoping for a repeat performance of his landslide victory against Frank Dobson in 2000.

Sir Alan is sanguine about his chances: “One can never say never, but I think it’s a long shot really because so many people say to me, ’oh you should be running the country’ but it’s not like walking into my office and saying this is what we’re going to do tomorrow and it just happens because I said so."

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