Britain's Conservative Party was last night facing the prospect that another of its stars may go to jail in the wake of Lord Archer's enforced confession to a 13-year-old alibi conspiracy in a libel case about his allegedly paying for sex.
The revelation by the News of the World that he persuaded a friend to lie about potentially crucial details of the Monica Coghlan case not only ruined the novelist-peer's campaign to become London mayor next May.
It also threatened him with the prospect of a two-year jail sentence if Scotland Yard's new investigation leads to criminal proceedings and has left the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, with a revival of the taint of Tory sleaze he has tried to put behind him since 1997.
At the end of an extraordinary 24 hours, which began when Lord Archer (59) was effectively ordered to step down as Tory candidate for mayor, the party's London leadership met in emergency session last night. It agreed to re-open the contest next month and pick a candidate by January 19th.
But the Archer affair is far from over. Scotland Yard confirmed that it is investigating a complaint lodged by the owners of the Daily Star - which paid £500,000 and an estimated £1 million in costs to the risk-prone multi-millionaire in 1987.
Lord Archer's confession of his own part in concocting an alibi by his "friend", Mr Ted Francis - who was paid £10,000 by the News of the World - could mean perjury charges or, more likely, those of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, even though the alibi was not needed as the case developed.
The former Tory cabinet minister, Jonathan Aitken, is currently serving an 18-month jail sentence for similar offences and Mr Neil Hamilton, another central figure in the sleaze controversies of the Thatcher-Major years, has faced fresh allegations during the first week of his libel suit against Mr Mohammed Fayed.
A civil action to recover the damages is also threatened. "Express Newspapers [owners of the Daily Star] will be consulting its lawyers about these developments as a matter of urgency. If grounds for appeal are found, then appropriate action will be taken. Maybe as the week unfolds, there will be more to add," the newspaper's spokesman said.
The Daily Star's front page headline this morning says: "Give us our cash back." Mr Max Clifford, the publicist who brokered Mr Francis's confession, also predicted fresh revelations about Lord Archer's career which has seen him bounce back from a succession of controversies involving his basic honesty or judgment. They forced him to quit as an MP and later as deputy Tory chairman.
Mr Clifford has arranged for Mr Francis to appear on Talk Radio today. Ominously for Lord Archer, he explained: "I know there is a lot more to come, in all areas. I mean, Ted Francis has known Jeffrey Archer very well for a long, long time and from the conversations I have had with him over the last few months there is some pretty sensational stuff which is still to emerge." Doubts about Lord Archer's conduct have long been known in Tory circles - despite yesterday's cries of betrayal by some MPs who claimed to feel let down by the ex-candidate.
Mr Hague's judgment was under attack from some Tory MPs, although one senior ex-minister said: "The Tory party is full of people who go to Jeffrey's parties and then attack him behind his back. We all knew he was a card, a bit of a chancer, a bit of a risk." For a man who has spent much of his life seeking the spotlight, Lord Archer himself was uncharacteristically shy yesterday. The novelist and his wife Mary were holed up behind the wrought iron gates of the Old Vicarage at Grantchester, outside Cambridge - immortalised by the poet, Rupert Brooke.
The electric gates remained stubbornly closed all day except for the arrival of Lord Archer's erstwhile campaign adviser, Mr Stephan Shakespeare, followed a few hours later by his son James (24). Mr Shakespeare told reporters: "Of course he regrets what he did. Yes, he clearly regrets that he has let people down and he'll be thinking about that. Clearly he is not relishing the attention, but he's very keen to get back to work next week."
Mr Steve Norris, the former Tory transport minister, last night refused to throw his hat back into the ring when the Conservative Party re-opened its selection contest to choose a candidate for next May's London mayor elections. An angry Mr Norris, who was runner-up to Lord Archer in the party's initial contest last month, said he was uncertain whether he could face a re-run of the gruelling selection process.
The former MP, who became more famous at Westminster for his string of affairs than for his achievements as a minister, had hoped that the Tory leadership would ask him to replace Lord Archer. But his hopes were dashed last night when the party leadership, which believes that Mr Norris's philandering makes him vulnerable to the tabloids, announced it would re-run the entire selection contest.