Secretary claims Archer's wife treated her unfairly

Lady Archer, wife of the disgraced author and Tory peer Jeffrey Archer, is expected to appear at an employment tribunal hearing today to face claims that she treated a secretary unfairly.

Jane Williams, from Saffron Walden, Essex, looked after Lady Archer's personal affairs, including relations with the press, at the Archers' home in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, for 13 years, before leaving her job last year.

In March, Lady Archer obtained a High Court injunction ordering Ms Williams not to disclose confidential information about Lady Archer or her family. The order covered any information relating to Lady Archer's "private, business or professional life".

Lady Archer, 57, who married the former MP in 1966 at the age of 21 after they met at Oxford University, has stayed loyal to her husband despite his string of affairs and a prison sentence for perjury.

Renowned for her intelligence and icy exterior, Lady Archer, a chemistry professor and an expert on solar energy, expressed regret at marrying so young in an interview this year. She also said she was attracted to Archer because she liked "life in the fast lane". But the multimillionaire novelist has caused her trouble on several occasions.

In 1994, Archer embarrassed his wife by buying shares in Anglia Television when she was on the board, just before a takeover. A former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, Archer was sentenced last year to four years in jail for perjury. He had been found guilty of lying under oath and of forging his diary in an effort to conceal his whereabouts when he was with Monica Coghlan, a prostitute.

In July, Archer's appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

He had sued the Daily Star over an article alleging that he slept with Ms Coghlan and won £500,000 in damages from the newspaper, a record amount in 1987. Testimony at the trial from Lady Archer so impressed the judge that he referred in his summing up to her fragrance and radiance.

Last month Archer was given permission to leave the open prison near Boston, Lincolnshire, where he is serving his sentence, to spend Sundays with his family at their home. He has signed a multimillion-pound book deal with the publisher Macmillan after being released from his contract with HarperCollins.

The case against Lady Archer is due to be heard at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The case is expected to last for two days.