The disgraced author and peer Jeffrey Archer was yesterday given a token punishment for breaching prison rules with the publication of the first volume of his prison diaries.

But Archer was also told that if a further volume of his diaries is published while he is still in jail he will be moved back to a closed prison for the remainder of his sentence.

The convicted perjurer and former Conservative party vice-chairman pleaded guilty yesterday to naming fellow inmates and their crimes and prison staff in breach of the rules at a short disciplinary hearing held by the governor of Lincoln prison.

The governor told him that his punishment would be 14 days stoppage of his prison earnings, which are about £12 a week, and 14 days "no canteen" - a ban on spending those earnings in the prison shop. But this minor penalty is to be suspended for six months and will only be imposed if he commits a further breach of the rules.

He was given a clear warning that if his publishers, Macmillan, press ahead with their plans to issue a further two volumes of his diaries while he is in prison he will face further disciplinary action.

Archer was sentenced to four years in July last year and will become eligible for parole next July - halfway through his sentence.

Richard Charkin, Macmillan's chief executive, has said that Archer could earn between £200,000 and £300,000 in royalties from the diaries.

Although prison service sources insisted the disciplinary action was a matter solely for the governor of Lincoln prison, it is clear that there is a strong desire to avoid making a martyr out of Archer.

More than a dozen other inmates are named in the first volume and not just infamous figures such as Ronnie Biggs and Jill Dando's killer, Barry George. The governor would have had the option of referring the case to a visiting district judge who could have added up to 42 days to Archer's sentence for the infringement.

The threat of moving him back to closed conditions if further volumes of his diaries are published means that his transfer back to open conditions is probably imminent. He was moved to Lincoln prison from low security North Sea Camp open prison as punishment for his unauthorised attendance at a champagne dinner party hosted by the former Tory minister Gillian Shephard.