STORY
The author and former Conservative politician Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86, his publisher HarperCollins has announced. Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare died suddenly and peacefully at home between writing sessions on Monday 5 October. His death came one day before the publication of Adam and Eve, which he had said would be his final novel, and just a day after he met readers at a sold out event in London.
Born in London in 1940 and raised in Weston-super-Mare, Archer studied at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he gained a Blue in athletics. He entered politics through the Greater London Council before being elected as the Conservative MP for Louth in a 1969 by-election at the age of 29. He left the House of Commons in 1974 after a failed investment brought him close to bankruptcy.
Archer rebuilt his finances through writing, beginning with Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, which was published in 1976. He went on to write novels including Kane and Abel, First Among Equals and the seven volume Clifton Chronicles, alongside short stories, plays and his later William Warwick series. His books sold more than 300 million copies around the world and were published in dozens of languages.
He returned to senior Conservative politics during the 1980s and served as the party’s deputy chairman between 1985 and 1986. Archer was made a life peer in 1992 and was subsequently selected as the Conservative candidate for the first election for Mayor of London, but withdrew in 1999 after allegations emerged concerning evidence given during an earlier libel case.
In 2001, Archer was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to four years in prison, of which he served two. He later published three volumes of prison diaries and resumed his writing career, while remaining a member of the House of Lords until his retirement in 2024. He is survived by his wife, Dame Mary Archer, their two sons and five grandchildren.