Jeffrey Archer, bestselling novelist and ex‑MP, dies at 86

booksOct 6, 20261715,606

Jeffrey Archer, the bestselling novelist and former Conservative MP, has died aged 86; his publisher HarperCollins said he died “suddenly and peacefully” at home “between writing sessions” on Monday. Archer sold about 300 million books worldwide, wrote Kane and Abel which has sold more than 30 million copies, and published his first novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less in 1976. He was Conservative MP for Louth from a 1969 byelection, served as the party’s deputy chair, and was made a life peer in 1992. Archer’s political career collapsed after a 1987 libel action against the Star, when an Old Bailey jury found he had lied; he was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice, imprisoned for four years and released early in 2003, then returned to the House of Lords until retiring in 2024. HarperCollins editor Kate Elton praised his work ethic and storytelling; Archer had signed books at a sold-out Leicester Square Theatre event with broadcaster Gyles Brandreth less than 24 hours before his death. His final novel Adam and Eve was due to be published Tuesday 6 October, one day after he died.

Stephen Graham

@stephengraham.bsky.social

I had this bit about Jeffrey Archer from the 1995 HIGNFY video memorised for whenever I needed a handy fact about him.

15654d ago

Kate 🍉75

BBC Breakfast repeating 'the youngest ever MP' as fact this morning. ☹️

Odd This Day62

Fabulous, thank you. Had forgotten all about that. (God, HIGNFY was so good when it was good)

Dr Negrin's Victory Pills33

I miss Angus Deayton. I don't miss Jeffrey Archer.

Hugh Pumphrey30

BBC #r4today : . . . politician, bestselling author, charity fundraiser . . . Me, shouting at radio: And all-round slimy git.

Alison Donovan29

Ha! Brilliant 🤩. When questioned where he went to school he would just say ‘Wellington’ leading one to suppose he went to the prestigious Wellington College…in fact he was at Wellington School, à far lesser establishment in the bowels of Somerset…a born liar.

Jen Shorten25

As an immigrant to these shores, having no idea who Archer was, I can say I learned more about him from this clip than any of his obits 🤣

Quoting this

Ned Hartley46

I miss Deayton as a host. In retrospect, Angus Deayton’s scandal seems quite quaint compared the the monsters that were roaming light entertainment at the time.

Andy Sage23

Feels like this really needs tucking in to the BBC coverage somewhere. bsky.app/profile/step...

Graeme Swanson15

“His father was a caterer from Brighton and a bigamist”

Claudio7

Jeffrey Archer: a politician ahead of his time. He’d fit remarkably well into today’s post-truth political landscape. #wato

Geordie Jack7

Don't fall for all this post death snivelling. The man was a liar and a con man.

Andrew Rait5

He shall be remembered, preferably like this: bsky.app/profile/step...

Andrew Rait5

This is magnificent from Hislop! #JeffreyArcher

Buuv Saskia5

Vergelijk deze samenvatting even met het bericht over de dood van Jeffrey Archer op de NOS app en vel uw eigen oordeel.

thatdavidwest.bsky.social4

If you want to know what the UK is like, the man referred to in this clip was appointed to the House of Lords.

Stephen Palmer2

Archer - criminal, jailbird, Liar, fraud etc etc ...

Nicholas Pegg

@nicholaspegg.bsky.social

Kemi Badenoch continues: ‘I can see why so many people were very fond of Jeffrey Archer. You know, we wanted him to be our mayoral candidate, and then yet another thing happened.’ Happened? He didn’t sit on a box of chocolates. He was sent to prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

2454d ago

Nicholas Pegg142

Knowing how highly Kemi Badenoch prizes her lack of gaffes, she might wish to correct the softening effect of her chosen words: ‘We wanted him to be our mayoral candidate.’ Jeffrey Archer WAS the Tories’ mayoral candidate, endorsed by Margaret Thatcher and John Major, until his crimes were exposed.

David Absalom44

Soft on crime, soft on the causes of crime.

Womble195814

Just like Farage, Badenoch doesn’t recognise or accept serious misdemeanours, including prison sentences (see the Reform MP jailed for assaulting his gf… 🙄😒)…

Quoting this

Otto English558

As Nick later says he "WAS" the Tory Mayoral candidate and indeed it was as a result of running for the gig that he was ultimately brought to justice. This wasn't "a thing that happened"

Dr Jo Kershaw30

At the time, William Hague (who was leader) and other senior Tories were apoplectic, not least because Michael Ancram had asked him if there was any more they should know about his past and he assured them everything had come out already. www.theguardian.com/politics/199...

David6

Facts matter even in the far right post truth but bubble

Ewan Sutherland5

Perhaps Mrs Badenoch was living in Nigeria when Archer was in prison

Chris Smith5

Why does the Tory Party attract crooks and why does the Tory Party love them so much ?

God-Emperor Tsunami 💙 #FBPE #BLM #GTTO5

Like many other tories, he was a criminal.

Chris Farnell3

Wow, okay. Now somebody ask her if she read any of his books. bsky.app/profile/nich...

Ben Dunnell2

I can understand, for example, Gyles Brandreth talking euphemistically about Archer. They had known each other for years, after all. But there is no excuse for the modern breed of Tories to follow suit. None would be this generous towards a Labour politician with his record.

Matthew Wright

@matthew-wright.bsky.social

Jeffrey Archer, liar, jailbird, Tory and ‘nearly man’ of British politics (apparently) once took a long and very much unwanted look at my wife’s chest and followed that with a “nice rack” comment. Stick that in your obituaries x

2644d ago

Jeremy Nicholls36

Robin Ince got the tone right. bsky.app/profile/robi...

Lorraine7

Sort of reminds me of the statement Selina Scott gave after Frank Bough died. A thoroughly nasty piece of work. As for Archer I could never really understand how his 'fragrant' wife stuck by him.

angelicaarcher.bsky.social7

Why is that, sadly, so unsurprising from him? Tosser 😒

lichengreen101.bsky.social6

True story When Archer was sent to prison he initially was in Belmarsh Someone I know was in charge of admin for the literacy tests new offenders take His came back littered with spelling and grammar errors He did indeed have a ghost writer A charlatan through and thru

Kathleen Martin5

Has anyone mentioned Monica Coughlan..?

janie13.bsky.social4

I notice the BBC seem to be pushing him as a wonderful man. I am old enough to remember all the lies and vile behaviour. I was in a pub and a bloke came in selling books for charity. I was surprised to see a mate of ours buy 3 JA paperbacks for £1. Until he turned and threw them all on the fire.

Ben

@cinemashoebox.bsky.social

RIP Jeffrey Archer, not a day goes by when I don't think about the judge in his 1987 libel case (which Archer "won" by doing a bunch of perjury) summing up for the jury by going "would a guilty man have such a hot wife". one of the most insane legal moments of all time

1923d ago

#1 Shoup Fan21

What an amazing wiki article; thanks. Just when you think it’s all over it hits you with allegation of funding a coup in Equatorial Guinea They should let me write a best selling novel to get out of bankruptcy

john11

'Is he in need of cold, unloving, rubber-insulated sex in a seedy hotel' Surely something only a person who has never met a tory of that era could say 'no' to?

Edwin Heathcote7

It’s so funny. Now maybe more than ever. @privateeyenews.bsky.social was onto this for years. That judge was better than Peter Cook.

Phil Edwards6

The best part is that shortly after the trial, the Graun found a passage in one of his novels in which the hero gets home in the small hours from a hard evening's saving the world*, runs an exploratory hand over his wife's sleeping back and gets the slightly muffled reply

Ste Jormur5

I hope every member of the jury got to have a good sniff just to verify whether she had fragrance

Darren Maughan4

Up there with the judge in the Jeremy Thorpe conspiracy to murder trial. Absolutely bonkers but ruling over us.

Quoting this

Duncan Robinson395

“If the wife is fit, you must acquit”

James Ball50

"Has she elegance? Has she fragrance?"

Darach Ó Séaghdha11

If I was a lawyer on this trial I’d cite Arthur Miller vs Norma Jean Baker where the four-eyed playwright got such a confidence boost from marrying the most beautiful woman on the planet that he went out to see if his quantity game could match his quality game.

please be nice to patrick7

I'm sorry did this judge really say "raw is law"

Jamie Douglass5

"Has she elegance? Has she fragrance?" sounds less like a high court judge and more like a perfume advert made by someone with a less-than-perfect grasp of English

James Butler4

Linda Smith's absolutely perfect line about Archer being released from prison "into the cryogenic embrace of Mary"is permanently etched in my mind.

TJ McIntyre3

"Is he in need of cold, unloving, rubber-insulated sex in a seedy hotel round about quarter to one on a Tuesday morning after an evening at the Caprice?" is quite possibly the most unhinged jury direction ever. The snooty reference to Le Caprice caps it off wonderfully.

wake up dead mang3

I'd heard his wife was "fragrant" but I did not know the origin story

Tim2

why was the judge so poetic

Mik Duffy.

@mikduffy.bsky.social

Hey, Grim Reaper! I know I was mad at you about the whole Tim Curry/Sam Neill/Brenda Fricker thing, and maybe I said some things I shouldn't have. But man, Dennis Hastert, Jeffrey Archer and now THIS. Bravo Sir, Bravo! www.independent.co.uk/news/jim-bak...

2164d ago

__________5

Long overdue for a job lot of evil cunts.

Ornamental Hermit3

Bakker was a grifter to the end, selling snake oil Covid remedies to the rubes.

LordP6662

The Grim Reaper can get bent. Bakker should have died decades ago.

kristinfo.bsky.social2

Getting closer. Maybe somebody needs to give him a picture of Trump’s face so he can get it right finally

Delia (she/any)2

Arguably Esther "disbelieved Saviles victims" Rantzen too

M Pathy - Fighting tyranny is our duty.1

They say things happen in threes. I say let's make it a Bakker's dozen.

Quoting this

Thomas Fortenberry3

The PTL scam mall/condo resort is still condemned and falling to pieces in my community. It’s a crumbling hazard and eyesore and could have been used for decades to house the homeless or feed the poor, but no Christian cares since it wasn’t being used to rip people off. It sits empty and abandoned.

Matt Rosser2

Looks like the Almighty has been handed the correct list.

Mic Wright

@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social

It is wild to me that this report from the Daily Star on his death doesn’t mention Jeffrey Archer’s time in prison seeing as it was his false libel action against that paper that ultimately led to it. www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-...

1304d ago

John Steel5

When Jeffrey Archer becomes a candidate for veneration, you know that the world you're living in has become almost completely dysfunctional.

Keith M2

Cant we just be happy?

cancelled-by-elon.bsky.social2

Reputations must be polished and revised the moment a politics or media elite dies. Sorry, but that's the rule.

Leaded Petrol Sommelier2

Everyone loves/ hates you less when you're dead, huh

vpcampbell.bsky.social2

Maybe whoever wrote it wasn't alive at the time.

Fi 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Independence For Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿1

I thought he was already dead tbh 😐 My mother liked his ‘novels’. I read one once, out of curiosity. He made Dan Brown sound like Joseph Conrad 😒

Samantha Asumadu

@samanthaasumadu.substack.com

A rather more honest Jeffrey Archer obituary by @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social I kept coming back to Coghlan: "You're a liar. He's a liar and he knows it. He's even putting his wife through it. I've got nothing he's got money. I can't even go back to work" brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/here-lies-...

854d ago

Quoting this

Adam Powley8

Don't speak ill of the dead? No need to be as dishonest as Archer was. He was, at least in large part, a rotten, greedy, liar of a human being and his obits need to recognise this.

Isabel Picornell Garcia5

"Colourful" is a euphemism for"one-time jailbird whose résumé seesawed between achievement and disgrace, and who inspired abiding public fascination with headline-grabbing accounts, both fictional and personal, of ambition, self-promotion, misbehavior and scandal".

Aimai5

This is a fabulous essay on Archer the fabulist. It opposes Archer to Coghlan, the prostitute he denied sleeping with, but there is a hidden ”secret sharer” who also comes to mind. Archer vs. Arday. Arday hounded to death while Archer indulgently cheating/lying upwards into the House of Lords.

Prof Tracey Hill5

Ah yes, the 'fragrant' Mary Archer. What a despicable pos he was.

Anne Behemothhh3

If you read anything today, take this, about what’s wrong with the world yet fun to read „…Mary Archer’s exceptionally indulgent description of her husband as someone with a “gift for inaccurate précis”. That’s what you call a liar if you’re serving him up in a French bistro.“

firstprinciples.bsky.social2

The truth about another entitled Tory prick

Robert Llewellyn

@bobbyllew.bsky.social

I met Jeffrey Archer once. We had the same literary agent. He was terrifying. If we really are ruled by lizard overlords, he was definitely one of them.

1454d ago

timbothewiz.bsky.social4

I can’t remember who it was, but years ago someone was asked who they hated. They replied that they hated two groups of people 1) those who read books by Jeffrey Archer & 2) those who write books by Jeffrey Archer

David Dent3

The media coverage of Archer today just reminds me of this.... youtu.be/k9b7wmRsy9g?...

David Heslop3

I met him once, when I was about 15. He came to our school and the best English students got to ask him about his career. I asked him for advice getting published. He told me "You'll never be the next Tom Cruise but you might be the next Tom Clancy," a comment my friends found utterly hilarious.

Matthew Pink2

He's not dead he's just shed his old body.

quangiewangle.bsky.social1

Well done Robert. I'm sure you are correct. Slightly reminds me of the night Graham Greene died though. The literary great and good were phoning Newsnight to say how fantastic he was. Anthony Burgess called in to say that he considered himself and Waugh to be far better writers than Greene.

Quoting this

mooch jones2

Laughed at this too: bsky.app/profile/bobb...

The Author, Séamas O'Reilly

@seamas.bsky.social

I've thought about it any time I've heard a boring story since, and weighed up in my mind just what a nuclear option it would be to use. I'm also not *absolutely* certain it was Jeffrey Archer - if it wasn't, I'm sure he'd appreciate any tribute that involved the spreading of provable falsehoods.

1474d ago

Peter Smith

@redpeter99.bsky.social

Camilla's gushing tribute to Jeffrey Archer is very ill judged. Archer had more than flaws, he destroyed a vulnerable woman's life without hesitation.

1193d ago

Andrew S. 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🌈 🏳️‍⚧️4

As she and Charlie destroyed his late wife.

Stephen Pemberton4

If he was an “irrepressible life force” how come he’s dead.

Brillaben3

BBC have had all sorts of heads blowing smoke up his arse all day. He was a grade A wrong'un and should be forever portrayed as such. Just cos he was rich doesn't change that. Convict, adulterer, proven liar etc.

Jo Wolff

@jowolff.bsky.social

I may be one of the few political philosophers to quote Jeffrey Archer in a published paper. It was from a Sunday newspaper feature. He said ‘It’s such a privilege having money. It gives you such freedom too.” (As G.A. Cohen points out: therefore capitalism is a society of unequal freedom.)

984d ago

Jo Wolff17

For the absurdly curious here’s the reference to Archer and the link to my paper. www.tandfonline.com/doi/ref/10.1...

Gxro68835

Money doesn’t make you happy but a lack of money makes you sad.

Nest3

Did he go on to acknowledge the impoverished political philosophers who had been saying just that for the previous 200 years?

Helen Style2

He wasn’t entirely wrong. The trick is to know when you’ve got enough - which might not be a huge amount- and live within that.

A Bear1

I pull from Doug Marlette for a very similar sentiment:

Jim Obey1

And as Archer also illustrates, a system of unequal freedom and power - you can't bribe others without first having the funds to do it.

Margaret Morgan 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇦🇺

@margaretmorgan.bsky.social

From @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social, an accurate obit of the vile Jeffrey Archer. He was utter scum. "Archer’s whole career was an exercise in selling piss but the obits are straining to persuade us that it was champagne." brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/here-lies-...

764d ago

Quoting this

If you know you know5

If every member in good standing of the Epstein class, as Archer clearly was avant la lettre, received an accurate obituary I wonder if we would make a dent in the moral abyss of public life.

mimij9.bsky.social

@mimij9.bsky.social

Jeffrey Archer was not a ‘loveable rogue’. He was an immoral criminal.

1083d ago

Mandeville was cavendish_maid 📎 🇺🇦3

He was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice. Millions of pounds ‘disappeared’ from his Kurdish charity, it was reported that Kurdish refugees only received £250,000. Yet the Queen paid tribute to him adding he wasn’t without flaws! Give me strength! 🤦‍♀️🤷

Jill Houlbrook2

I’m sick of the BBC telling us how great he was in every news bulletin

Sophie Coulombeau

@sophiecoulombeau.bsky.social

My greatest piece of personal lore is that Jeffrey Archer once accused me of lacking integrity.

983d ago

Sophie Coulombeau38

If you don’t believe me then i cannot prove that it happened, but i can prove that at my hen party my Maid of Honour commissioned a special cake depicting Jeffrey Archer accusing me of lacking integrity.

Richard K Morgan2

Please tell me you laughed out loud in his face.......

Hugh Jones1

I hope that’s in your email signature!

Quoting this

Mrs Quent15

Was called a cunt by Roseanne Barr because I disapproved of her celebrating strike breaking

Hannah2

Alan Sugar reported me to the police for antisemitism once I had not done an antisemitism

Onkar

@onkar01.bsky.social

The same Jeffrey Archer who used sex workers and was convicted of two counts of perjury and two counts of perverting the course of justice? That Jeffery Archer?? #abolishthemonarchy #grifters

663d ago

Peter Keen7

Her praise is as valid as her 'queen' title, which we were promised was not going to be used. I guess compared with one of her Brothers in law, Archer was OK

Andrew S. 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🌈 🏳️‍⚧️7

Royals defending fraudsters and sex criminals? Surely not.