Lord Archer's former secretary yesterday denied fiddling her expenses while working for him.
Ms Angela Peppiatt (56) clashed with Lord Archer's counsel at the Old Bailey in London, where the best-selling author and former Conservative Party deputy chairman is being tried for perjury.
She was accused by Mr Nicholas Purnell QC, defending, of claiming meals for herself and lunches with her children as part of Lord Archer's business expenses. And Mr Purnell said also she had been "paid twice" for lunches at a restaurant near the Conservative Central Office.
"I'm suggesting you had no authority to entertain at Lord Archer's expense.
"You discovered that you could, undetected, put through expenses without being questioned and you escalated the amounts that you put through."
Ms Peppiatt vehemently denied the claims, saying: "It was well known that entertaining was a part of my job."
Ms Peppiatt conceded she may have put in claims for taking her children out to lunch whilst visiting them at their schools in Cumbria and Berkshire.
Lord Archer (61) resigned from his unpaid post with Conservative Central Office in October 1986 after press reports that he had associated with a prostitute.
The following year he was awarded £500,000 damages in the High Court after suing the Daily Star for libel when it alleged he had slept with the woman.
Lord Archer denies seven charges alleging dishonestly in relation to that action - four counts of perverting justice, two of perjury and one of using a diary as a false instrument.
The hearing was adjourned until today.