PR and the Social Web

On Twitter this morning, the ennobled Lord Sugar took the Daily Telegraph’s consumer affairs editor to task in an extraordinary on-line exchange.

Harry Wallop had been bemoaning Sugar’s endless plugs for his autobiography ‘What You See is What You Get’ when @Lord_Sugar did what it says on the tin. Seven minutes after Wallop called him a “shameless self publicist”, Sugar posted “@hwallop p*** off and follow others then”.  The asterisks, in an uncharacteristic show of restraint, are Sugar’s not mine.  Harry, who seemed a little taken aback, tried to engage in some peer to peer discussion but Sugar wasn’t playing.

Perhaps The Apprentice boss was feeling a little raw as David Cameron has just announced Lord Young as Sugar’s successor in the post of ‘Enterprise Tsar‘.   The Tories certainly got it with both barrels a few minutes later when Sugar posted “New figures today reveal gvt cuts & VAT hike will actually cost 1.6 million jobs! No wonder Tories behind in polls, 1st time since 2007”.  Not strictly true as the Tories fell behind Labour in September and were briefly behind the LibDems pre-election.