Lord 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 says.

Archer sold more than 300 million copies worldwide and was known for pacy thrillers such as his 1976 debut Not ‌A Penny ‌More, ⁠Not A Penny Less and Kane & Abel.

His final novel Adam and Eve is due to be published later in October.

Archer was also a prominent Conservative politician, who had a brief term at Westminster before ‌becoming ​a senior party official under then-prime minister ​Margaret Thatcher in ‌the mid-1980s.

But he suffered a very ​public downfall when he was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of ​justice ​in 2001, being ​sentenced to four years’ ‌imprisonment.

“We’re all devastated to have lost a writer who has brought ​joy to generations of readers – and ​a true ⁠friend,” Kate Elton, HarperCollins’ UK CEO and Archer’s editor, said on Monday (British time).

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, who spent the night with Archer on Sunday to celebrate his new novel, said the author had been in his “most wonderful, ebullient form”.

“Just yesterday I did a show with Jeffrey Archer to celebrate his new novel – he said it was to be his last,” Brandreth wrote on X.

“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 – a great storyteller to the last.”

Archer was due to be at the Cheltenham Festival on Saturday to discuss Adam And Eve.

He and his wife Dame Mary Archer celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2026. They had two sons and five grandchildren.