In July 1987, the libel case over the allegation that Archer had had sex with Monica Coghlan came to court. The payment to Coghlan was explained as the action of a philanthropist rather than that of a guilty man. He won the case and was awarded £500,000 damages. Archer stated he would donate the money to charity. This case would ultimately result in Archer's final exit from front-line politics some years later.
There was astonishment at the description the judge (Mr Justice Caulfield) gave of Mrs Archer[10] in his jury instructions: "Remember Mary Archer in the witness-box. Your vision of her probably will never disappear. Has she elegance? Has she fragrance? Would she have, without the strain of this trial, radiance? How would she appeal? Has she had a happy married life? Has she been able to enjoy, rather than endure, her husband Jeffrey?" The judge then went on to say of Jeffrey Archer, "Is he in need of cold, unloving, rubber-insulated sex in a seedy hotel round about quarter to one on a Tuesday morning after an evening at the Caprice?" By this time, according to the journalist Adam Raphael, Jeffrey and Mary Archer were, in fact, living largely separate lives.
The editor of the Daily Star, Lloyd Turner, was sacked six weeks after the trial by the paper's owner Lord Stevens of Ludgate.
Archer had been selected by the Conservative Party as candidate for the London mayoral election of 2000. He was forced to withdraw when it was revealed that he was facing a charge of perjury.[15]
In November 1999, Ted Francis, a friend (who claimed Archer owed him money) and Archer's former personal assistant Angela Peppiatt claimed he had fabricated an alibi in the 1987 trial. They were concerned that Archer was standing as Mayor of London and doubted that he was suitable. Peppiatt had kept a diary of Archer's movements, which contradicted evidence given during the 1987 trial. This formed the basis of the case against Archer.[16]
The News of the World published the allegations on 21 November 1999 and Archer withdrew his candidacy the following day. Conservative leader William Hague said "This is the end of politics for Jeffrey Archer. I will not tolerate such behaviour in my party".[17] On 8 October, he had described Archer as a candidate of "probity and integrity. I'm going to back him all the way" at the Conservative party conference.
On 4 February 2000, Archer was expelled from the Conservative Party for five years. On 26 September 2000, he was charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice during the 1987 libel trial.[15]
A few months before the beginning of the perjury trial, Archer began in the star role in a courtroom play (which he also wrote) called The Accused. The play was staged at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket and concerned the court trial of an alleged murderer from beginning to end. The play used the technique of assigning the role of jury in the trial to the audience, theatre-goers voting on whether Archer's character was guilty at the end of each performance. Archer would attend his real trial during the day and be judged in his fictional trial in the evening.[18]
The real trial began on 30 May 2001, a month after Monica Coghlan's death. On 19 July 2001, Archer was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice at the 1987 trial. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by Mr Justice Potts. Archer never spoke during the trial, though his wife Mary again gave evidence as she had done during the 1987 trial. Ted Francis was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice. Archer's mother died on 11 July 2001 aged 87, and he was released for the day on 21 July to attend the funeral.[19]
Archer was sent to Belmarsh Prison, but was moved to the category "C" Wayland Prison in Norfolk on 9 August 2001, and to HMP North Sea Camp, an open prison in October 2001. From there he was let out to work at the Theatre Royal in Lincoln, England, and was allowed occasional home visits. Reports in the media claimed he had been abusing this privilege by attending lunches with friends, including former Education Secretary Gillian Shephard and in September 2002 he was transferred to Lincoln Prison for a month. While in prison, he wrote the three-volume memoir A Prison Diary. During his time in prison, he was visited by a number of high-profile friends, including the actor Donald Sinden[20] and the performer Barry Humphries.[21][22]
In October 2002, Archer repaid the Daily Star the £500,000 damages he had received in 1987, as well as legal costs and interest of £1.3 million.[23] That month, he was suspended fromMarylebone Cricket Club for seven years.[24]
On 21 July 2003, he was released on licence, after serving half of his sentence, from HMP Hollesley Bay, Suffolk.[25]
Many of Archer's friends remained loyal. He and Lady Archer were guests at the memorial service for Norris McWhirter at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields on Thursday, 7 October 2004 where they sat in the same pew as former head of the Conservative Monday Club, Gregory Lauder-Frost, and in front of Lady Thatcher, who embraced Lady Archer.
On 26 February 2006, on Andrew Marr's Sunday AM programme, Archer said he had no interest in returning to front-line politics: he would pursue his writing instead.[26]
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