Jeffrey Archer, novelist and former Conservative MP, dies aged 86

The author and former politician Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86, his publisher has said.

Harper Collins said he died "suddenly and peacefully at his home between writing sessions" on Monday. He spent five years as a Conservative MP prior to serving as the party’s deputy chairman.

Alongside politics, he built a successful career as a novelist and became a life peer in 1992.

His political career stalled in 2001 when he was imprisoned for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

An Old Bailey jury ruled he had lied during a libel suit against The Star newspaper 13 years prior, where he had been awarded £500,000 in damages.

Following an early release in 2003, he rejoined the House of Lords until retiring in 2024.

Kate Elton, Harper Collins 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.”