Lord Archer's answers to damaging allegations about his years at Oxford have been slammed as "totally unsatisfactory" by his biographer.

Michael Crick, a BBC journalist who wrote a damning account of how Jeffrey Archer got into Oxford with no A-levels, said the novelist had once again failed "to come clean and face up to his past".

He said that Lord Archer would never have got into Brasenose College if his total lack of qualifications had been known. And he alleges that Archer persistently claimed throughout the early 60s to have had a degree from an American University.

Mr Crick, who lives in Swerford, near Banbury, said: "He used to wear a graduate gown. There is a picture of him wearing a gown in my book."

"The letters BSc, denoting a Bachelor of Science degree, appear after his name in the class list at Dover College, where Archer taught PE from 1961 to 1963."

But the degree claims were bogus, with Archer not even possessing a single A-level. Mr Crick says he also has a copy of a letter showing that as late as 1967 Archer wrote to London University claiming to have obtained a first degree in America.

Lord Archer earlier hit back at critics who said he was unfit to run for Mayor of London, in an article in the London Evening Standard.

The Tory contender admitted he got into Oxford without A-levels. But his bid to set the record straight seems to have backfired, putting the spotlight back on his Oxford years.

Mr Crick said archives at both Dover College and Oxford University contain CVs, not written by Lord Archer, which stated that he had A-levels in English, history and geography.

The Newsnight journalist said: "It's hard to believe that Oxford University simply fabricated the details. Perhaps Archer could offer an explanation."

Mr Crick, a former Oxford Union President, added: "Without such claims Archer would never have been employed by Dover College or admitted to Oxford University."

He said that with Lord Archer wanting to be a mayor in charge of London's education system, it was time to offer a full explanation.

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