Former Conservative MP and bestselling author Jeffrey Archer has died suddenly at the age of 86, his publisher HarperCollins announced on Monday evening.
Archer, who served as a Conservative MP for five years before becoming the party's deputy chairman, died peacefully at his home between writing sessions on Monday, HarperCollins said.
Career and political life
Archer enjoyed a successful career as a novelist and was made a life peer in 1992. His political career was interrupted in 2001 when he was imprisoned for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
An Old Bailey jury 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 in damages. He was released early in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024.
Tributes from publisher
Kate Elton, HarperCollins 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."
