The keynote speaker at this year's Britannia Conference was Nick Hewer from the BBC's 'The Apprentice'.

Nick Hewer, Lord Sugar’s right-hand man in the immensely popular BBC production The Apprentice, was the keynote speaker at the Britannia annual conference in Cardiff on 11 June.

For anyone who has seen the TV series it was a fascinating exposé of how the programme was conceived and just what went on behind the scenes to make it compulsive viewing for many. Those who had not seen the show were, perhaps, encouraged to give it a try.

Nick arrived early for the conference, the previous night in fact, so some of the delegates had the opportunity of getting a sneak preview in the bar. When show time came Nick explained something of his background as PR man for major corporations such as Amstrad and Securicor, and the road that led him to emerge from backstage into the limelight.

Talking about the contestants on The Apprentice, Nick said that they were hand picked from thousands of hopefuls. They were not selected because they were the brightest but because the relationships between them would make for good TV. He also said that if someone that was out of work and lacking self esteem thought they could do better, it was probably not a bad thing.

Asked how long he would continue working on the show Nick said: “Not forever.” But it was clear that he had found a niche and he wasn’t planning on making any changes in the foreseeable future.

There will be a full report on what Nick had to say and the Britannia conference in the August issue of The Mover.

   Nick Hewer