Jeffrey Archer: Best-selling author and former politician dies aged 86

Oct 06,2026: Bestselling author and former politician Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86.
In a statement, Archer’s publisher HarperCollins said the author died “suddenly and peacefully at home” on Monday between writing sessions.
Archer was born in north London on 15 April 1940.
In 1969, Archer was elected MP for the Lincolnshire constituency of Louth.
He served as an MP for five years before becoming Conservative Party deputy chairman.
His political career was paused in 2001 when he was jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
He was found to have lied in libel action he had brought against The Star newspaper, in which he was awarded £500,000 in damages.
He was released in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024.
Archer sold more than 300 million books in his five-decade writing career, including the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, and often set the novels in his home town of Wellington, SHis last book, Adam and Eve, is set to be released this week, HarperCollins said, describing him as a “master storyteller” whose readers “meant everything to him”.
He and his wife Mary had celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year, HarperCollins said.
The pair have two sons and five grandchildren.