\n<\/p>\n
Archer was born in north London on 15 April 1940 but would quickly move to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, where his family bought a house from John Cleese’s mother.<\/p>\n
In 1969, Archer was elected MP for the Lincolnshire constituency of Louth.<\/p>\n
He served as an MP for five years before becoming Conservative Party deputy chairman. <\/p>\n
His political career was paused in 2001 when he was jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice.<\/p>\n
He was found to have lied in libel action he had brought against The Star newspaper, in which he was awarded \u00a3500,000 in damages.<\/p>\n
He was released in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024.<\/p>\n
His 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”.<\/p>\n
The publisher added that the author had been at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on Sunday, signing books for fans with broadcaster Gyles Brandreth.<\/p>\n
Writing on X, Brandreth said: “Just yesterday I did a show with Jeffrey Archer to celebrate his new novel \u2013 he said it was to be his last.<\/p>\n
“He was in the most wonderful, ebullient form and had such a great reception from a packed house. He was funny, engaging and self-deprecating \u2013 a great storyteller to the last.”<\/p>\n
Brandreth later told the BBC’s World Tonight that Archer was a “huge character” who “became a gentler person after prison”.<\/p>\n