Archer, who died on Monday, was one of Britain's most commercially successful novelists, selling more than 300 million books over a five-decade career. His debut, 'Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less', appeared in 1976, and he went on to write the 'Kane and Abel' series and the Clifton Chronicles. His publisher said he died at home between writing sessions.
Born in north London on 15 April 1940, Archer moved to Somerset as a child, where his family bought a house from John Cleese's mother. He was elected Conservative MP for Louth in 1969, serving for five years before becoming Conservative Party chairman in the mid-1980s under Margaret Thatcher. He was made a life peer in 1992.
His political career ended in disgrace. In 2001 he was jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice, after an Old Bailey jury found he had lied in a 1987 libel action against the Daily Star, in which he was awarded £500,000 in damages. He was released in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until retiring in 2024.
His final novel, 'Adam and Eve', was set for release on Tuesday. Archer had visited his old school last week to promote it. He and his wife Mary had celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year; they had two sons and five grandchildren.
Kate Elton, HarperCollins UK's 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."