British novelist and former Conservative MP Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86, his publisher, HarperCollins, announced on Monday.
Archer served as a Member of Parliament for five years and later became the Conservative Party’s deputy chairman. He was made a life peer in 1992 as Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare and later became the Conservatives’ choice for the first London mayoral election.
He was also one of Britain’s best-known novelists, with works including Kane and Abel and his 1976 debut success, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less. Despite a controversial political career that ended with a prison sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice, he later returned to the House of Lords and continued his writing career.
Archer had been due to attend the Cheltenham Festival on Saturday for the launch of his final novel, Adam and Eve. His publisher said he had recently met and signed books for hundreds of people at a sold-out event in London.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Archer, whom he had been married to for 60 years, as well as their two sons and five grandchildren.
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