Renowned British Author Jeffrey Archer dies at 86

LONDON: Renowned British author Jeffrey Archer passed away at 86. The news of his demise was informed by Jeffrey’s publishers, HarperCollins. He had also served as an MP of the Conservative Party.

After a 50-year literary career, Archer was about to attend the Cheltenham Literary Festival this week to discuss what he described as his final novel, Adam and Eve. His unexpected death came just days before the book was scheduled to be released next Tuesday. Archer was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014.

Archer joined the Tory Party while studying at Oxford University in Britain. At the age of 29, he became a Member of Parliament after winning a by-election in 1969. His parliamentary career came to an end in 1974 after an industrial cleaning company in Canada in which he had invested faced the prospect of bankruptcy.

In 1985, the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher appointed Archer as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. However, he was forced to resign from the post within a year following a controversy involving allegations that he had given money to a sex worker.

In 1992, John Major, Thatcher’s successor, recommended that Archer be granted a peerage, making him eligible to become a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the UK Parliament.

In 1999, Archer launched a campaign to become the Conservative Party’s candidate for the post of London’s first elected mayor. However, months later, he was expelled from the party in connection with a case against the Daily Star.

In 2001, Archer faced trial and was found guilty of perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He was sentenced to four years in prison but was granted parole in 2003.

His wife, scientist Mary Archer, is the Chancellor of the University of Buckingham.