Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (15 April 1940 – 5 October 2026), was an English novelist, politician and convicted criminal. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth (Lincolnshire) from 1969 to 1974, but did not seek re-election after almost going bankrupt. Archer revived his fortunes as a novelist with his third novel Kane and Abel (1979). It remains one of the best-selling books in the world, with an estimated 34 million copies sold globally. Overall, his books have sold more than 320 million copies worldwide.

Archer returned to politics and was the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party from 1985 to 1986; he resigned after a newspaper accused him of paying money to a sex worker. In 1987, he won a libel suit against the paper and was awarded large damages because of this claim. He was made a life peer in 1992 and subsequently became the first Conservative candidate to be selected as a candidate for mayor of London. He ended his candidacy in 1999 after it emerged that he had lied in the case in 1987. In 2001, he was sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice, ending his active political career. He was released early in 2003.

Archer retired from the House of Lords in 2024. He died in October 2026, aged 86.