Chris Noth is convinced Taylor Swift is the perfect ambassador for New York City because she represents the wealthy elite of Manhattan.

The Sex and the City star has long bemoaned the changes to his adopted home town over the years, insisting Manhattan has become a playground for the rich because lower-earners have been pushed out by soaring property prices.

Swift, who bought a $20 million (£12.5 million) apartment in the Tribeca district earlier this year (14), was recently named the city's new tourism ambassador, and Noth is adamant the wealthy pop star is representative of the super-rich residents who now populate the area.

He tells the New York Daily News, "Manhattan has become a borough for the rich. I've said it and I'm not afraid to say it again. So she's probably the perfect representative. I don't know what people (who disagree with her appointment) are b**ching and complaining about - that's what happened to New York. It's become a boutique borough, and that's why young people are having a hard time finding a way to live here, and the middle class and the blue-collar workers. I've always had a beef about that. But people are sick of hearing me say it. So she's our representative, and if that's the image you're talking about, it's probably a correct one. Manhattan used to have a real rainbow coalition of class and ethnicity, but it's being pushed out."