From Richard Charkin's 'My Back Pages': 'Accidental Successes'

So there is a good deal of luck in publishing as with everything else - but the best editors are always alert to opportunities and ready to act, wherever they may arise. This was certainly the case with Jeffrey Archer.

In the summer of 2001, the politician and best-selling novelist was found guilty of having lied during his famous 1987 libel case involving the prostitute Monica Coghlan, and was sentenced to four years in prison - one of the longest ever sentences for perjury in British history. Immediately after this, Harper Collins cancelled their contract with him on the grounds of late delivery of a manuscript, which is obviously a common enough occurrence, but gave them the pretext they needed to distance themselves from a man now regarded as a public disgrace. They were by no means alone - the Conservative Party and Marylebone Cricket Club were highly critical, and a principal concern of government and much of the media at the time was how he might be stripped of his peerage.