Jeffrey Archer, the former Conservative MP and bestselling author, has died aged 86, his publisher HarperCollins confirmed on Monday.
Lord Archer, who served five years as a Conservative MP before becoming the party's deputy chairman, passed away peacefully at his residence between writing sessions, according to HarperCollins.
Literary career and peerage
The prolific novelist was granted a life peerage in 1992 and enjoyed a distinguished literary career. However, his political ambitions were cut short in 2001 when he was jailed for four years after being convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
An Old Bailey jury found he had lied during a libel action he had brought against The Star newspaper 13 years earlier, for which he had received £500,000 in damages. After his early release in 2003, he returned to the House of Lords before standing down 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.”
