Alan Sugar

Sir Alan Sugar (knighted in the 1999 New Year's Honours List) gave more than £5,000 to the Labour Party in 1997. He is the Chairman of Amstrad and Executive Chairman of Viglen Ltd (he owns 73% of the company). His personal wealth is £585 million. He is also the former Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Amstrad used to make computers and stereos, but are currently selling a phone device called an e-mailer. Viglen (a computer manufacturer which was part of Amstrad until 1997) made Sugar £115 million in one day, when news of a proposed investment in internet companies was leaked in January 2000. A large part of Viglen's market for computers is education - they supply IT to two thirds of the UK's universities and sell curriculum and network software to schools.

He owns property worth £85 million, including Gloucester House in Mayfair, London, where he has sold flats for up to £8 million each. In 1999 he sold his 170 ft yacht for £11 million.

A former Thatcherite, he is one of the 58 business leaders who wrote to the Times in May 2001 in support of the Labour Party