British author and politician Jeffrey Archer dies aged 86

LONDON – British author Jeffrey Archer, who penned a series of best-selling novels, served as a Conservative MP and was convicted of perjury, died suddenly at 86, his publisher HarperCollins said.

Archer died “suddenly and peacefully at his home between writing sessions” on Oct 5, said HarperCollins. His editor, Kate Elton, called him a “master storyteller and an editor’s dream”.

He had been due to appear at Cheltenham Literary Festival this week to discuss Adam And Eve, which he described as his final novel after 50 years of storytelling. It was published on Oct 6.

British tabloid The Sun reported that he had been signing books for fans at an event in London on Oct 4.

Archer revealed in 2014 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He led a life as colourful as the characters in his novels, which sold more than 300 million copies, according to his website. Talented and ambitious, he was a high flier who could never quite escape the whiff of scandal despite a talent for bouncing back from humiliating setbacks.

Politics and sex were the ingredients which ensured his success as a novelist. But in real life, the combination led to the downfall of the man who once hoped to become mayor of London.

He was tried for perjury and perverting the course of justice, after a friend admitted he had supplied a false alibi during a libel case the peer brought against The Daily Star tabloid in 1987.

Archer had sued the newspaper over a claim he had slept with a prostitute, winning £500,000 in damages.

Ambitious from his earliest years, he used his charm and fund-raising abilities to climb almost to the top of the Conservative Party.

MP at 29

He joined the Tories while a student at Britain’s prestigious Oxford University and, in 1969, won a resounding by-election victory to become a Member of Parliament at the age of 29.

His parliamentary career came to an abrupt end in 1974, when he was brought to the brink of bankruptcy by the collapse of a Canadian industrial cleaning company in which he had invested.

However, with typical resilience, he used his experiences as material for his first book Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less, published in 1975. It was the first of a series of blockbusters set in the worlds of high finance and politics.

Panned by critics, the books nevertheless earned Archer a fortune and he nursed hopes of a political revival while using his contacts and persuasiveness to raise millions of pounds for the Tories.

In 1985, his labours were recognised by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who named him Conservative deputy chairman, describing him as a model Tory high achiever.

Scandals

But a year after his appointment, he was forced to resign by what he described as a “lack of judgment” after sending £2,000 to a prostitute, Monica Coghlan.

He said he paid the money only to help her escape hounding from reporters by going abroad and sued The Daily Star for suggesting otherwise.

In 1992, he was recommended by Thatcher’s successor John Major for a peerage, entitling him to sit in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament.

In 1999, he launched a campaign to be the Tory party’s candidate to become the first elected mayor of London.

But months later, the claim emerged that he had asked a friend, Ted Francis, to provide him with a false alibi against The Daily Star.

This forced him to abandon his bid and he was expelled from the party.

In 2001, he went on trial and was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but was granted parole in 2003.

Archer’s long-suffering wife Mary, a scientist, stood behind her husband in his many mishaps.

Famously praised for her “fragrance” by the judge in the 1987 libel trial, she once said: “We’ve explored the further reaches of ‘for better and for worse’ than most couples.”

Archer retired from the House of Lords in 2024. His wife is Chancellor of the University of Buckingham. AFP