Clegg hits at 'thin-skinned' Sugar

Nick Clegg branded Lord Sugar "thin-skinned" today after the businessman unleashed a volley of abuse at him on Twitter.

The Apprentice star lashed out after the Deputy Prime Minister suggested that millionaires like him should not benefit from pensioners' perks such as free bus passes and TV licences and winter fuel payments.

In a string of messages attacking "Calamity Clegg" on Twitter, Lord Sugar called on Prime Minister David Cameron to "silence" his deputy for making the Coalition "look like a joke".

The Labour peer wrote: "Calamity Clegg, as he should be known, is talking rubbish. I don't have bus pass and I pay for my TV licence like everyone else.

"Clegg is an embarrassment to coalition for his gaffes. I don't have and don't want a free bus pass. I pay for my TV Licence as I am 66 not 75.

"Why doesn't Cameron silence this idiot Clegg? How many more gaffes can he spout off on TV? Makes the coalition look like a joke."

Asked during his weekly Call Clegg show on LBC 97.3 radio how he felt about Lord Sugar's onslaught, a laughing DPM said: "He's slightly thin-skinned. He drives around in this great big Bentley on primetime television, he wafts around the House of Lords in ermine, and then he seems to be very offended when I point out that he has got a bob or two.

"I don't see why someone like him should be entitled to a winter fuel payment.

"No doubt, having said that, I will get another torrent of classic Sugar tweet-abuse this morning. Anyway, that's the way I see things."