Official verdict on Archer diary: stay out of trouble

The first review of Jeffrey Archer's A Prison Diary, published yesterday, was from the Home Office – and the critical verdict was that he was guilty of breaching rules for inmates.

Government officials have been one of the first, and one of the few, customers to pay £14.99 for the book, after the publishers Macmillan refused the Treasury Solicitor's demand for an advance copy.

Within hours of the book going on sale, the former Tory deputy chairman – prisoner FF 8282 – admitted at a hearing in Lincoln prison that he was at fault in identifying fellow prisoners and their crimes. The governor's punishment was to deprive him of two weeks prison allowance and a ban for a similar length of time from buying extras in the canteen.

However, the sentence was suspended, and would remain so unless he is found guilty of further breaches before his projected release next April.

The disciplinary action over the diary has arisen because Archer, who apparently considers it his best work, insisted it should come out early while he was serving his sentence. Adrian Soar, of Macmillan, disclosed that the original plan had been for publication after his release.

Archer, who says the diaries, excerpts from which have already appeared in a tabloid newspaper for a reputed fee of more than £300,000, were written to expose the appalling conditions in prisons, and is not just to make money.

He has instructed his publishers that copies should be sent to the Home Secretary David Blunkett and his Conservative opposite number, Oliver Letwin.

It is just the latest travail for Archer since his Old Bailey conviction last year. He has already been accused of breaching day release conditions by going to a party given by former Conservative Education Secretary Gillian Shepherd, and then a lunch with an off- duty policewoman and a prison officer.

"Jeffrey felt not only that this is the best thing he has written but it is also something very important, showing the state of Britain's prisons", said Mr Soar as the first batch of copies arrived at Pan Bookshop in Fulham Road, south- west London.