Jeffrey Archer, bestselling novelist and former Conservative MP, dies at 86
British author Jeffrey Archer, whose novels sold more than 300 million copies worldwide and who also served as a Conservative member of parliament before being convicted of perjury, died on Monday at his home. He was 86.
His publisher, HarperCollins, said in a statement that Archer died "suddenly and peacefully at his home between writing sessions". The company did not give a cause of death.
Kate Elton, HarperCollins' United Kingdom chief executive and Archer's editor, said: "We're all devastated to have lost a writer who has brought joy to generations of readers — and a true friend."
Archer had been due to appear at the Cheltenham Literature Festival this week to discuss "Adam and Eve", which he described as his final novel after 50 years of storytelling. The book was scheduled for publication on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. The Sun tabloid reported that he had been signing books for fans at an event in London on Sunday.
Archer joined the Conservative Party while a student at Oxford University and won a by-election in 1969, entering parliament at the age of 29. His parliamentary career ended abruptly in 1974, when the collapse of a Canadian industrial cleaning company in which he had invested brought him to the brink of bankruptcy.
He drew on that experience for his first novel, "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less", published in 1975. Critics were largely unimpressed, but the book began a long run of bestsellers set in the worlds of high finance and politics, earning him a fortune and a readership across the world.
Archer remained active in the Conservative Party and raised millions of pounds in funds for it. In 1985, then prime minister Margaret Thatcher named him deputy chairman, describing him as a model Tory high achiever. He was forced to resign a year later, saying he had shown a "lack of judgment" after sending £2,000 to Monica Coghlan, a woman he had been accused of sleeping with. Archer maintained the payment was meant to help her escape press attention by travelling abroad, and he sued the Daily Star tabloid over its reporting of the matter. He won the 1987 libel case and was awarded £500,000 in damages.
In 1992, Thatcher's successor John Major recommended him for a peerage, giving him a seat in the House of Lords. In 1999 he campaigned to become the Conservative candidate for London's first directly elected mayor, but abandoned the bid months later after a friend, Ted Francis, said he had supplied a false alibi during the libel case. Archer was expelled from the party.
He was tried in 2001 and found guilty of perjury and of perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to four years in prison and released on parole in 2003.
Archer disclosed in 2014 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He continued to write and publish, and remained a familiar figure at literary festivals and book signings in Britain and abroad.
His political ambitions and his legal battles drew attention throughout his career, but it was his fiction that made him one of Britain's most widely read authors over the past five decades. He is survived by his wife, Mary.
