A former personal assistant to Lady Archer has lost her case for unfair dismissal.

Jane Williams, 49, of Ickleton near Saffron Waldon in Essex, worked for the wife of the jailed peer at her home in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, for 13 years until being dismissed a year ago.

She claimed she was victimised after making allegations to police about Lord Archer's diaries being burnt before his trial for perjury last year.

However, the tribunal in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk accepted Lady Archer's claim that Ms Williams was dismissed because she would not accept a part-time job or sign a confidentiality agreement.

Ms Williams claimed she had been victimised

Tribunal chairman Ian Lamb said: "We don't accept that the statement made to the police was the principal reason for dismissal.

"We accept what Lady Archer said about it at the time was true and honest.

"There is no evidence for any other findings."

Lady Archer had also claimed Ms Williams had stolen confidential information, attempted to sell stories to the press and written disparaging e-mails.

Mr Lamb said: "We have concluded as a panel that the principal reason for dismissal was the refusal to enter into the confidentiality agreement.

'Distressed' relations

"Dismissal for that reason was procedurally and substantively fair."

He added that for the tribunal to rule in Ms Williams' favour, it would have had to find some of what Lady Archer had said to be an "outright lie".

Mr Lamb described the relationship between the two during Ms Williams' last year of employment as "distressed".

But he said Lady Archer had handled problems with a "let's shake hands and start again" approach.

Media intrusion

Responding to Ms Williams' claim that her employer had become "demanding and difficult", Mr Lamb said: "We just don't see what she said about the attitude of Lady Archer towards her as justified."

Commenting on the jailing of Lord Archer, Mr Lamb said: "There is an expression in politics, 'If you are in a hole, you should stop digging'.

"It seems to us that what happened was that Lady Archer's husband was digging a deeper hole and Lady Archer was trying to erect a higher and higher fence around it to try to protect her family from further media intrusion.

"She was perfectly entitled to do that in relation to the employee who was closest to her."