Archer dumped me for Tory post, says ex-lover

Internal link

Archer 'ditched mistress for his career'

There was, inevitably, laughter in court when Andrina Colquhoun said she could not remember her age when she began her affair with Jeffrey Archer. " I'm so intimidated by these proceedings," she said, shaking her head, her face haggard, etched with anxiety and stress. "You are holding up very well, if you don't mind me saying so,'' said Mrs Justice Potts. " Perhaps if you told us what your date of birth was, we could work it out.''

Ms Colquhoun did, but Roy Amlot QC, cross-examining her, interjected gallantly: "I won't work out the mathematics."

There was little of Ms Colquhoun's personal life not laid bare when she gave her evidence at the Old Bailey. A large part of her 84-minute appearance was an examination of her relationship with Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare; how they had become lovers, how her nickname for him was "Moon", and how he had abandoned her to gain high office in the Conservative Party.

David Waters QC, for the Crown, had begun: "I do not want to pry unnecessarily into your private life and I will restrict my questions in regard to that. May I ask you, did you have a relationship with Lord Archer?" That was the cue for the packed public gallery to lean forward in unison, and the press bench to become poised for furious scribbling.

After a brief pause, Ms Colquhoun, in a black trouser suit, white shirt and a silver necklace, a silver ring glinting in her clutched hands, replied: "Yes, I did." She went on, in a matter-of-fact voice, to chart the affair. It had begun "approximately at the end of 1979", before she began to work as his personal assistant at his London apartment in Alembic House, on the Embankment.

The court has been told that Lord Archer, 61, led a double life, spending the week with Ms Colquhoun in London, and the weekend with his wife, Mary, at his Cambridgeshire home, the Old Rectory at Grantchester.

Ms Colquhoun denied she was Lord Archer's "live-in mistress". She said: "I do not think that was an accurate picture of our relationship."

The court was read a list of expensive presents Lord Archer was said to have bought Ms Colquhoun in 1987. It took Nicholas Purnell QC, for the Tory peer, almost 10 minutes to go through the list of the stores and the purchases: Asprey's, Chanel, Jaeger, Bruno Magli, Harrods, Bali, Benetton, Charles Jourdan, Monsoon ... There was also, allegedly, a trip to Italy for the World Athletics Championships.

Ms Colquhoun said she could not remember getting the gifts and denied she had gone on the Italian trip. She maintained that by September 1986, " I would see Lord Archer from time to time, but my recollection was that the relationship fizzled out, perhaps not completely ... My recollection was that he probably gave me a birthday present or a Christmas present."

By 1985, she told the court, Lord Archer was trying to keep the relationship more discreet. "I think he took steps to keep it secret, much more secret than prior to 1984. I think what I am trying to say is that we stopped going out to public restaurants." Asked by Mr Waters why that was the case, Ms Colquhoun said: "I assumed because Jeffrey wanted to show that he ... I don't know, I'm sorry."

During her time at the witness box, Ms Colquhoun's eyes had been restless, staring at the jury, the judge or the journalists in turn. Only once, as she began to describe how Lord Archer had chosen his political career over her, did her gaze alight on her former lover, sitting 18 feet away in the dock.

"He thought it was possible that he was in line for a big job with the Conservative Party," Ms Colquhoun said, looking at the jury. "It was something he had always wanted and he would have to tidy up his private life. At the time I was upset. He made the decision."

Lord Archer is on trial accused of four counts of perverting the course of justice, two counts of perjury and one of using a diary as a false instrument. The case relates to a libel trial in 1987 in which he won £500,000 from the Daily Star after it reported he had had sex in a London hotel with a prostitute, Monica Coghlan.

In 1999, Ms Colquhoun received a call from Lord Archer, saying a part of his alibi in the 1987 libel trial had been called into question and a story was due to break in the News of the World.

"He told me I was going to be involved in the story," she said. " He said he was sorry. He said he had tried to keep my name out of it. I was horrified."

The trial continues.