Disgraced peer Lord Archer could be stripped of his title and removed from the House of Lords, the government has announced.

The former Tory deputy chairman was last week released on parole after serving just over two years of a four year sentence for perjury.

Following anger at suggestions of a political comeback, the lord chancellor said the law would be changed to remove convicted criminals from the upper house.

Under current rules MPs are barred from the Commons if they are sent to jail for longer than a year. But no such rule exists in the House of Lords.

As part of the Lords reform process, Lord Falconer said the rules in the Lords would be brought into line with those in the Commons.

"We said in the last white paper on Lords reform that we think it should be parallel in the Lords and the Commons," he said.

"If you are convicted of an offence for 12 months or over, then you should be disbarred from sitting and voting and you also need to think about having your peerage taken away.

"If you are a member of parliament you lose your right to sit and vote. Why should it be different in the Lords?"

In a move which will spark fresh claims of a political vendetta, Lord Falconer said the law could be applied retrospectively in order to remove the millionaire novelist.

"Would it be wrong that if it were retrospective the only person it would affect is Lord Archer? I don't think so," he said.

Meanwhile Lord Archer has let it be known that he plans to return to public life this Autumn.

The former Tory peer is planning to address the Howard League on penal reform and return to the charity circuit.

Speculation that he planned to return to active political service in the Lords grew after he decided to move back into his Westminster penthouse flat.

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has rejected any suggestion that Lord Archer will be allowed to rejoin the party.