Sleaze and Archer haunt Howard

The spectre of Tory sleaze loomed up from the past to haunt Michael Howard this weekend as Lord Archer became eligible to rejoin his former party. A five-year suspension against the disgraced peer elapsed yesterday.

The spectre of Tory sleaze loomed up from the past to haunt Michael Howard this weekend as Lord Archer became eligible to rejoin his former party. A five-year suspension against the disgraced peer elapsed yesterday.

Further embarrassment awaits the Tory leader on Tuesday when more allegations are set to emerge that one of his MPs offered tours of Parliament to paying tourists. Jonathan Sayeed was banned from the House of Commons for a fortnight and suspended from his party for a month over links to a firm that offered privileged access to Parliament.

Mr Howard has ordered "soundings" to be taken among Lord Archer's friends about whether he intends to rejoin. Officially, aides will say only that any application would be judged "on its merits". Privately they admit that the return of Lord Archer would be a "gift" to Labour, as it seeks to identify the Tories with the past.

Lord Archer still has powerful friends in the party. Peter Bottomley, Tory MP for Worthing West, said he looked forward to Lord Archer joining the Conservatives' election campaign. "He has been a central part of the life and soul of the party and done much to bring about its greatest successes."

Meanwhile, a whistle-blower who helped Westminster council taxpayers recover £13.2m from the disgraced Tesco heiress Lady Shirley Porter could be drummed out of public office this week, for leaking documents.

Paul Dimoldenberg, a Labour councillor in Westminster for more than 20 years, is being hauled before the local government Standards Board on Tuesday, accused of breaching confidentiality and bringing Westminster council into disrepute. Mr Dimoldenberg claims that he did it in the interests of Westminster's council taxpayers.