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| Judge ordered Lord Sugar to remove expenses 'tweet' | Judge ordered Lord Sugar to remove expenses 'tweet' |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Lord Sugar was told to remove a Twitter message speculating on whether a peer on trial for expenses fraud would be cleared because he was a Conservative, it has emerged. | Lord Sugar was told to remove a Twitter message speculating on whether a peer on trial for expenses fraud would be cleared because he was a Conservative, it has emerged. |
| A Judge ordered the Labour peer and Apprentice star to take down the post in January during the trial of Lord Taylor, who was ultimately convicted. | A Judge ordered the Labour peer and Apprentice star to take down the post in January during the trial of Lord Taylor, who was ultimately convicted. |
| Mr Justice Saunders ruled the message could unfairly influence jurors. | |
| A spokesman for Lord Sugar said he had complied with the order immediately. | |
| The media was prevented from reporting the matter at the time. | The media was prevented from reporting the matter at the time. |
| However, it is understood Mr Justice Saunders lifted the reporting restrictions on Thursday following the conviction of ex-Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield - the last in a series of expenses trials involving former parliamentarians. | |
| '20-minute matter' | |
| Lord Sugar posted the message on the micro-blogging site on the second day of Lord Taylor's trial. | |
| The businessman and TV star wrote: "Lord Taylor, Tory peer, in court over alleged expenses fiddle. | |
| Wonder if he will get off as he is a Tory compared to Labour MP who was sent to jail." | |
| The MP he was referring to was former Labour MP David Chaytor who pleaded guilty to expenses fraud in December and became the first parliamentarian to be jailed for such offences. | |
| As well as ordering the message to be removed, Mr Justice Saunders referred the matter to the Attorney General Dominic Grieve - who has the power to bring charges against individuals deemed to have harmed the judicial process. | |
| Mr Grieve decided to take no action on the matter. | |
| A spokesman for Lord Sugar said he was not aware of the restrictions in the case and complied with the court order as soon as it was issued. | |
| "It was a 20-minute matter and is now finished with," he said. "There is absolutely no way that Lord Sugar would want to prejudice any legal process at all." | |
| Speaking on Thursday, Mr Justice Saunders said there was no suggestion Lord Sugar had intended to influence the trial or that its outcome had been prejudiced. |