Lady Archer has defended her husband over allegations that funds raised to help Iraqi Kurds by the Simple Truth appeal have gone missing.

Her comments came as the British Red Cross said Lord Archer had "no control" over the money raised by the 1991 Simple Truth appeal.

Lady Archer spoke out following a BBC Radio 4 Today programme investigation into allegations that some of the £57 million raised through the appeal had gone missing. Scotland Yard's Fraud Squad is currently carrying out a "preliminary assessment" of the claims.

"We are very proud of what Jeffrey did in spearheading this charitable effort. It was a huge effort, he put a huge amount of his own time and indeed resources into it, and the figures...do indeed total to £57 million, as announced at that time," Lady Archer told the Today programme.

She said she hoped the fraud investigation would come to a "speedy" conclusion and condemned the way the claims had resulted in her husband having his security classification upgraded from Category D to Category C.

Lord Archer, who has been accused of exaggerating the amount raised by the Simple Truth concert, is currently serving his four year sentence in Wayland prison in Norfolk.

The investigation into the Simple Truth funds began after the Lib Dem peer Baroness Nicholson demanded to know exactly how much was raised by the former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

Lady Archer defended her husband against Nicholson's claims. "They're very serious allegations, they're entirely without foundation, they have resulted in real harm to Jeffrey and now she [Baroness Nicholson] seems to have smeared the Red Cross into the bargain. I think she is misled and misleading," she said.

The peer's wife said she was in possession of letter from the Overseas Development Administration saying the United Nations had received £38 million from the Simple Truth campaign and that the £57 million figure had been the amount raised globally.

The chief executive of the British Red Cross, Sir Nicholas Young, told Today he was "puzzled" by the fraud investigation. He said Lord Archer had never been given any access to the funds raised by the appeal. "None of the funds went missing. We can account for all of them," he said.

Patrick Healey, a senior BRC official at the time of the appeal, said the £57 million figure emerged because staff had been asked how much was raised for the Kurds following the appeal rather than by the concert itself.

"If the decision to reclassify his prison status has been taken on the basis of the figure of £57 million, then I find it strange and perverse," said Healey.

Lady Archer said her husband was "well" in prison but anxious to move to an open prison. She added that he now had "plenty of time to write".

On Wednesday, Archer lodged an appeal against his conviction for perjury and perverting the course of justice.