Michael Crick: Whatever his misfortune, he pretends nothing's wrong

Jeffrey Archer has made a complete joke of the English penal system. He was allowed out of jail five days a week to teach drama students at the Theatre Royal in Lincoln. He took a generous hour-and-a-half lunch break each day, apparently to conduct a tour of the city's gastronomic highlights. He drove himself back to prison in the evening, stopping off at the fish and chip shop because he couldn't face prison grub.

On Sundays he was allowed home to the Old Rectory in Grantchester to see his wife, Mary, and on one occasion, he was reported to have hosted a party there. He even acted as an umpire at a cricket match. Now we hear he was the guest of honour at a party held by Gillian Shephard. The way things were going, he might have turned up at the Tory party conference later this month and taken his old seat on the platform.

One can appreciate that prisoners who aren't dangerous to the public should be allowed to serve sentences in open prisons and even do jobs in the community. But it was difficult not to wonder, with Archer's prison lifestyle, just where the punishment was. He only seemed to spend one day a week inside – and even then he spent most of his time making future millions by scribbling his memoirs.

Quite clearly, in trying to lead as normal a lifestyle as possible, Archer was pretending that he was still an ordinary member of the public, not a serious prisoner whose liberty should be restricted. In letting the world know what freedoms he enjoyed, he was cocking a snook at the whole criminal justice system. It was just the same two years ago, before his trial at the Old Bailey, when his stage play The Accused took the mickey out of the judicial process. Whatever misfortunes he suffers, whenever he is caught misbehaving, he carries on pretending nothing is happening.

This reflects not just Archer's own character, but the way in which the British establishment, and especially leading members of the Conservative Party, have treated him over the years. They haveturned a blind eye to his crimes, entertained him and attended his parties and promoted his political prospects – even though many of them knew he was a dodgy character.

And no doubt they will do the same again when Prisoner FF8282 finally leaves jail for good early in 2004. It will be fascinating to see how many of those Tories who endorsed his candidature for mayor – John Major, Margaret Thatcher, Michael Howard, Norman Lamont and Cecil Parkinson – will welcome Archer back and forgive him for what some still regard as relatively minor offences, forgetting that he was responsible for an elaborate conspiracy to defraud two national newspapers of £550,000.

'Jeffrey Archer: Stranger Than Fiction', by Michael Crick, is published by Fourth Estate