Inside Lines: Archer snookered

It is almost a couple of years since Lord Archer took his cue and became the new baron of the green baize. As president of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association it was thought he would set out to clean up the festering image of a sport at war with itself. But there has been little sign of lordly trouble-shooting. The bold Jeffrey has never really got to grips with snooker's political machinations, which has seen the controversial chairman "Brontosaurus" Rex Williams cling to office amid ceaseless rows and rucks, the latest episode concerning the dismissal of a high-flyer chief executive appointed only two months ago. What Archer thinks about it all is not known. He is apparently preoccupied with an embarrassment closer to home, his Prince Philip-mode gaffe over "fat black women". Neither that nor his continued association with snooker's suicide can be doing his fast-receding London mayoral election chances much good. Will he make the break? The whole episode might make an intriguing plot for yet another Archer novel. First Among Sequels to Shall We Tell the President? If only someone will tell this president exactly what is going on.

D-day for Williams, page 7