GORDON BROWN is under new pressure over his decision to make Sir Alan Sugar a peer after it emerged that the tycoon is being taken to an industrial tribunal for alleged sex discrimination and bullying.

The prime minister’s new enterprise czar is embroiled in a legal battle with a senior female executive at one of his flagship companies.

Hanna Sebright, who was a £70,000-a-year managing director at Amscreen Healthcare, lodged legal papers with employment tribunal offices in Stratford days before Downing Street announced the tycoon’s appointment.

She is expected to make a series of allegations about Sugar’s behaviour and the conduct of other senior executives at the company, including Sugar’s son Simon, and Lee McQueen, winner of a previous series of the hit BBC show The Apprentice.

The alleged bullying and harassment took place after Sugar bought the company, which used to belong to Sebright, last September.

He renamed the firm, which supplies the National Health Service with digital screens to broadcast patient information, and has since used it as a training ground for finalists and winners of his television show.

It is understood that Sebright will claim the inclusion of Apprentice winners and finalists created a “poisonous” atmosphere at the company, with the intense competition between them damaging the business and morale among other staff.

Sebright, 46, is expected to claim she was:

- Subjected to verbal tirades from Sugar.

- Excluded from key financial meetings by his son.

- Forced to use The Apprentice finalists despite their unsuitability for the work.

- Subjected to lurid sexual comments by McQueen.

The allegations are vigorously denied by Sugar. It is not the first time he has faced accusations of bullying and sexism. He caused a furore during a previous series of The Apprentice by grilling a female contestant about her childcare arrangements.

Sebright, who is understood to be seeking £140,000 in compensation, is on sick leave and declined to comment.

Brown is already under pressure over his decision to parachute Sugar into the Lords because of possible conflicts of interest between his new government job and his BBC presenting role.

There are also questions over his tax affairs. Sugar has admitted that at least one of his companies is registered in Jersey, an offshore tax haven.

On behalf of Sugar, his son and McQueen, a spokesman for Amscreen Healthcare, said: “Amscreen was notified of these tribunal proceedings on Monday, June 8 and intends to vigorously defend them.”

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