Former politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer dies aged 86

Former politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer has died aged 86, his publisher said in a statement. Archer, who was a Conservative MP for five years before serving as the party’s deputy chairman, died “suddenly and peacefully at his home between writing sessions” on Monday, Harper Collins said. He had a successful career as a novelist alongside politics and was made a life peer in 1992. Archer’s political career was paused in 2001 with the disgrace of his being imprisoned for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice. An Old Bailey jury in the UK found that he had lied in a libel action he had brought against The Star newspaper 13 years earlier, in which he was awarded £500,000 damages. He was released early in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024. Harper Collins said the author had met and signed books for hundreds of fans at a sold-out event with broadcaster Gyles Brandreth at the Leicester Square Theatre in central London on Sunday. Writing on X, Brandreth said: “Just yesterday I did a show with Jeffrey Archer to celebrate his new novel, he said it was to be his last. He was in the most wonderful, ebullient form and had such a great reception from a packed house. He was funny, engaging and self-deprecating, a great storyteller to the last.” Archer was due to be at the Cheltenham Festival on Saturday to discuss his final novel, Adam and Eve. He had his wife Mary celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year. They had two sons and five grandchildren. Former Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi paid tribute to Archer, writing on X: “Jeffrey Archer was a dear friend and an extraordinary human being. His gift for storytelling was matched by his wit, warmth and boundless energy. Life was never dull in Jeffrey’s company. Jeffrey, it was a privilege to call you my friend. You were one of a kind. May you rest in eternal peace.” Kate Elton, Harper Collins UK chief executive and Archer’s editor, said: “It has been one of the great privileges of my publishing life to have been Jeffrey Archer’s editor. He was the master storyteller and an editor’s dream, phenomenally hard-working, utterly committed to completing draft after draft to get every word as perfect as possible, and a true champion of the ‘team’ nature of great publishing.” Archer made millions out of his best-selling novels, most notably Kane and Abel. His editor at Harper Collins said he was “phenomenally hard-working.” Archer, who was born in London in 1940, had his family move to Somerset shortly after. His parents bought a house from John Cleese’s mother. He was the son of a printer and was educated at Wellington School after winning a scholarship. Just last week, he visited his old school library, the BBC reported. “The library is really special to me because it brings back so many happy memories,” he said during the visit. “I was on a scholarship because we had no money, I came from Weston-super-Mare and we had no money. I would never have got in without a scholarship.” In 1963, he attended Oxford University and later that decade began his political career. A prominent Conservative politician, Archer briefly served as an MP before becoming a senior party official under then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the mid-1980s. Archer faced a very public downfall when he was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001. The charges stemmed from his successful 1987 libel case against British newspaper The Daily Star, which accused him of hiring a prostitute. Archer was awarded £500,000. Archer greeted his wife Mary after being released from prison in 2003. In 1999, his former friend, Ted Francis, accused Archer of asking him to lie in court proceedings. Archer admitted he asked Francis to lie, according to CBS News, and Archer was forced to resign as the Conservative Party candidate for mayor of London. He was charged the following year. Archer was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and was released in 2003, after which he returned to the House of Lords until his retirement in 2024.