British author and disgraced politician Jeffrey Archer dies aged 86

Best-selling British novelist and former Conservative politician Jeffrey Archer, who was jailed for perjury in a high-profile libel case, has died at age 86.

Archer sold more than 300 million copies of his books worldwide during his five-decade writing career and was known for pacy thrillers such as his 1976 debut Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and the Kane and Abel series. His final novel, Adam and Eve, was set for release this week.

Jeffrey Archer has died aged 86.Kate Elton, HarperCollins’ UK chief executive and Archer’s editor, said on Monday the writer died “suddenly and peacefully” at his home. “We’re all devastated to have lost a writer who has brought joy to generations of readers – and a true friend,” Elton said in a statement.

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.

But 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 greeting wife Mary after being released from prison in 2003. ReutersIn 1999, the conservative politician’s 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.

Born in London in 1940, Archer’s family soon moved to Somerset where, the BBC reports, his parents bought a house from John Cleese’s mother.

Archer and Mary in London in 2001 during his perjury trial.APThe son of a printer, Archer was educated at Wellington School after winning a scholarship.

Just last week, Archer 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 as a Conservative councillor on Greater London Council.

Elected to the House of Commons at 29 in 1969, Archer was forced to resign five years later when he was on the verge of bankruptcy after being caught in a fraudulent investment scheme that left him hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt.

This led him to write his debut novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, which was published in 1976. He followed up with Shall We Tell the President? (1977), but his 1979 novel Kane and Abel made him a superstar.

It sold more than 30 million copies and kicked off what would become a best-selling trilogy. In 1985, the book was adapted into a US miniseries starring Sam Neill.

Over his career, Archer wrote 31 novels as well as several collections of short stories, plays, children’s stories and a three-volume prison memoir.

According to The Guardian, Archer spent 14 years and five months in total on The Sunday Times bestseller lists, as well as more than five years on The New York Times bestseller lists.

He is survived by his wife, Dame Mary Archer, their sons, James and William, and several grandchildren.

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