Ted Francis, the man at the centre of the Lord Archer scandal, is surrounded by media as he apperas at Talk Radio studios in London, November 23, where he appeared on Derek Hatton's radio show. Mr Francis, a former friend of the disgraced Tory candidate for London Mayor, told Talk Radio he assumed he was being asked to protect Lord Archer from a possible divorce when the peer requested him to say they had been having dinner together on a night in September 1986, the previous year.

AS/ME