Jeffrey Archer, bestselling UK novelist and scandal-plagued politician, dies aged 86

Jeffrey Archer, bestselling UK novelist and scandal-plagued politician, dies aged 86

Jeffrey Archer, the bestselling British novelist and former politician who was jailed for lying in a high-profile libel case, has died aged 86, his publisher HarperCollins said on Monday.
Archer sold over 300 million copies worldwide and was known for pacy thrillers like his 1976 debut “Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less” and 1979’s “Kane & Abel.” His final novel, “Adam and Eve,” is due to be published on Tuesday.

Kate Elton, HarperCollins’ UK CEO and Archer’s editor, said in a statement: “We’re all devastated to have lost a writer who has brought joy to generations of readers — and a true friend.”

Archer was also a prominent Conservative politician, who briefly served as a lawmaker before becoming a senior party official under then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the mid-1980s.

But he was as well-known for his very public downfall.

In 1987, Archer sued the Daily Star tabloid for saying he had paid a woman for sex, winning a then-record £500,000 ($660,450) in damages. The case returned to the public eye when he was selected as the Conservative candidate to become London’s first elected mayor in 1999. A former friend accused him of lying and Archer was eventually charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, convicted and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. He served two years, during which time he wrote “A Prison Diary.”