Jeffrey Archer

For other people named Jeffrey Archer, seeGeoffrey Archer (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable The Lord Archer ofWeston-super-Mare
Archer in 2012
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 27 July 1992 – 4 July 2024 Life peerage
Member of Parliament forLouth (Lincolnshire)
In office 4 December 1969 – 20 September 1974
Preceded by	Cyril Osborne
Succeeded by	Michael Brotherton
Personal details
Born	Jeffrey Howard Archer 15 April 1940(1940-04-15)(age84) London,England
Political party	Non-affiliated(since 2001)
Other political affiliations	Conservative(prior to 2001)
Spouse	Mary Weeden ​ (m.1966)​
Children	2
Residence(s)	London, England
Occupation	Politician, author
Website	www.jeffreyarcher.com
Writing career
Occupation	Novelist, short story writer, playwright
Period	1976–present
Genre	Thriller,drama

Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare(born 15 April 1940)is an English novelist and former politician.He wasMember of Parliament(MP) forLouth (Lincolnshire)from 1969 to 1974, but did not seek re-election after a financial scandal that left him almost bankrupt.

Archer revived his fortunes as a novelist. His novelKane and Abel(1979) remains one of thebest-selling books in the world,with an estimated 34 million copies sold worldwide.Overall his books have sold more than 320 million copies worldwide.

Archer was the deputy chairman of theConservative Partyfrom 1985 to 1986; he resigned after a newspaper accused him of paying money to a prostitute. In 1987 he won a civil case and was awarded large damages because of this claim.He was made alife peerin 1992 and subsequently became the first Conservative candidate to be selected as a candidate formayor of London.He ended his candidacy in 1999 after it emerged that he had lied in the case in 1987. In 2001 he was sentenced to four years of imprisonment forperjuryandperverting the course of justice,ending his active political career. He was released early in 2003.

Early life and education

Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in theCity of London Maternity HospitalinHolloway,London on 15 April 1940.He was two weeks old when his family moved toSomerset,eventually settling in the seaside town ofWeston-super-Mare,where Archer spent most of his early life.

His father, William (died 1956),was 64 years old when Jeffrey Archer was born. Early in his career, Archer gave conflicting accounts to the press of his father's supposed, but non-existent, military career.William Archer was, in fact, a bigamist, fraudster, and conman, who impersonated another William Archer, a deceased war medal holder. He was at different times employed as a chewing gum salesman in New York and a mortgage broker in London. In the latter capacity, he was charged at theOld Baileywith a series of fraud offences. On being released on bail, he absconded to the US under the name William Grimwood.

In the US, William Archer fathered a child, Rosemary Turner (21 June 1917 – 11 October 1986), Jeffrey's half-sister. In 1940 Rosemary married lawyerBrien McMahonwho went on to become the Democratic senator forConnecticut(1945–1952) and a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952. After Brien McMahon's death that year, Rosemary married, in 1953, the Belgian ambassador to Washington, Baron Silvercruys. The First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, was the guest-of-honour at their wedding.

As a boy Archer dreamed of being captain of theBristol RoversFootball Club. He is still a fan of the club.

Wellington School

In 1951, Archer won a scholarship toWellington Schoolin Somerset (notWellington Collegein Berkshire, as he was later inclined to claim) after passing the 11-plus.At this time his mother, Lola, was employed as a journalist on Weston's local newspaper, theWeston Mercury.She wrote a weekly column entitled "Over the Teacups", and frequently wrote about Jeffrey, calling him 'Tuppence'.Although Archer enjoyed the local fame this brought him, it caused him to be the victim of bullying while at Wellington School.

Archer left school withO-levelsin English literature, art, and history. He then spent a few years in a variety of jobs, including training with the army and a short period with theMetropolitan Police.He later worked as aphysical educationteacher, first at Vicar's Hill, apreparatory schoolin Hampshire, and later atDover Collegein Kent.

Oxford

In 1963 Archer was offered a place at theOxford University Department for Continuing Educationto study for aDiploma of Education.The course was based in the department, and Archer became a member ofBrasenose College.There have been claims that Archer provided false evidence of his academic qualifications to Brasenose, the apparent citing of an American institution which was actually a bodybuilding club, for instance, in gaining admission to the course.It has also been alleged Archer provided false statements about three non-existentA-Levelpasses and a U.S.university degree.Although the diploma course only lasted a year, Archer spent a total of three years at Oxford.At Oxford, Archer was successful in athletics, competing in sprinting and hurdling, and became president of the Oxford University Athletic Club in 1965/6. His opposite number atCambridge University,Wendell Mottleybecame a lifelong friend.Television coverage survives of him makingfalse startsin a 1964 sprint race, but he was not disqualified. He gained abluein athletics and went on to run for England, and once competed for Great Britain.His time of 10.6 seconds for 100 metres is the joint second fastest time by an Oxford University student.

Archer raised money for the charityOxfam,obtaining the support ofThe Beatlesin a fundraising drive. The band accepted his invitation to visit the Principal's lodge at Brasenose College, where they were photographed with Archer and dons of the college,although they did not play there. The criticSheridan Morley,then a student atMerton,was present and recalled the occasion:

At the interval I went to the toilet, and there beside me wasRingo Starr.He asked if I knew this Jeffrey Archer bloke. I said everyone in Oxford was trying to work out who he was. Ringo said: "He strikes me as a nice enough fella, but he's the kind of bloke who would bottle your piss and sell it."

Early career

After leaving Oxford, Archer continued as a charity fundraiser, initially working for the National Birthday Trust,a medical charity that promoted safe childbirth, before joining theUnited Nations Association(UNA) as its chief fundraiser. The then chairman of the UNA,Humphry Berkeley,alleged that there were numerous discrepancies in Archer's expense claims while he worked at the UNA.

Around this time, Archer began a career in politics, serving as a Conservative councillor forHaveringon theGreater London Council(1967–1970).

Archer set up his own fundraising and public relations company, Arrow Enterprises, in 1969.That same year he opened an art gallery, the Archer Gallery, inMayfair.The gallery specialised in modern art, including pieces by the sculptor and painterLeon Underwood.The gallery ultimately lost money, however, and Archer sold it two years later.

Member of Parliament

At 29, Archer was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for theLincolnshireconstituency ofLouth,holding the seat for the Conservative Party in aby-electionon 4 December 1969.Archer beatIan Gowto the selection after winning over a substantial proportion of younger members at the selection meeting. The national party had concerns about Archer's selection, specifically relating to the UNA expenses allegations made by Humphry Berkeley, himself a former Conservative MP. Berkeley tried to persuade theConservative Central Officethat Archer was unsuitable as a parliamentary candidate.Archer brought a defamation action against Berkeley and the story was kept out of the press, although a truncated version of the story did appear inThe Times.The case was eventually settled out of court, with Archer agreeing to pay legal costs of around £30,000.

Louth constituency had three key areas:Louth,Cleethorpes,andImmingham.During his time as an MP, Archer was a regular at the Immingham Conservative Club in the most working-class part of the constituency. In 1970 he took part in the Kennedy Memorial Test, a 50-mile running/walking race from Louth toSkegnessand back.

Inparliament,Archer was on the left of the Conservative Party, rebelling against some of his party's policies. He advocated freeTV licencesfor elderly people and was against museum entrance charges.In 1971, he employedDavid Mellorto deal with his correspondence. He tipped Mellor to reach the cabinet. In an interview, in February 1999 Archer said, "I hope we don't return to extremes. I'm what you might call centre-right but I've always disliked the right wing as much as I've disliked the left wing."

Financial crisis

In 1974, Archer was a casualty of a fraudulent investment scheme involving a Canadian company called Aquablast. The debacle lost him his first fortune and left him almost £500,000 in debt.Warned by Daily Mirror reporter Revel Barker -who he misidentified as a fellow Oxford student - that as a bankrupt he could not be an MP, he announced that he would not be standing in theOctober 1974 general election"Because of financial difficulties".

While he was a witness in the Aquablast case in Toronto in 1975, Archer was accused of stealing three suits from a department store.Archer denied the accusation for many years, but in the late 1990s he finally acknowledged that he had taken the suits, although he claimed that at the time he had not realised he had left the shop.No charges were ever brought.

Writing career

Archer wrote his first book,Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less,in the autumn of 1974, as a means of avoiding bankruptcy.The book was picked up by theliterary agentDeborah Owen and published first in the U.S., then eventually in Britain in the autumn of 1976. A radio adaptation was aired onBBC Radio 4in the early 1980s and aBBC Televisionadaptation of the book was broadcast in 1990.

Kane and Abel(1979) proved to be his best-selling work, reaching number one onThe New York Timesbestsellers list. Like most of his early work, it was edited byRichard Cohen,the Olympic fencing gold-medallist.It was made into a televisionmini-seriesbyCBSin 1985, starringPeter StraussandSam Neill.The following year,Granada TVscreened a 10-part adaptation of another Archer bestseller,First Among Equals,which told the story of four men and their quest to become prime minister. In the U.S. edition of the novel, the character of Andrew Fraser was eliminated, reducing the number of protagonists to three.

As well as novels and short stories, Archer has also written three stage plays. The first,Beyond Reasonable Doubt,opened in 1987 and ran at theQueen's TheatreinLondon's West Endfor over a year.Archer's next play,Exclusive,opened at theStrand Theatre, London,in September 1989.It was not well received by critics, and closed after a few weeks. His final play,The Accused,opened at the Theatre Royal, Windsor on 26 September 2000, before transferring to theTheatre Royal Haymarketin the West End in December.

In 1988, author Kathleen Burnett accused Archer of plagiarizing a story she had written, and including it in his short-story collection,A Twist in the Tale.Archer denied he had plagiarized the story, claiming he had simply been inspired by the idea.

While Archer's books are commercially successful, critics have been generally unfavorable towards his writing.Journalist Hugo Barnacle, writing forThe IndependentaboutThe Fourth Estate(1996), thought the novel, while demonstrating that "the editors don't seem to have done any work", was "not wholly unsatisfactory".

Archer has said that he spends considerable time writing and re-writing each book. He goes abroad to write the first draft, working in blocks of two hours at a time, then writes anything up to 17 drafts in total.Since 2010, Archer has written the first draft of each new book at his villa inMajorca,called "Writer's Block".

In 2011, Archer published the first of seven books inThe Clifton Chroniclesseries, which follow the life of Harry Clifton from his birth in 1920, through to his funeral in 1993. The first novel in the series,Only Time Will Tell,tells the story of Harry from 1920 through to 1940, and was published in the UK on 12 May 2011.The seventh and final novel in the series,This Was a Man,was published on 3 November 2016.

The Short, the Long and the Tall,an illustrated collection of Archer's short stories, was published in November 2020, with watercolor illustrations by artist Paul Cox.

Over My Dead Bodywas published in October 2021, and is the fourth book in a series of thrillers featuring detective William Warwick.The book was critically acclaimed and became aNew York Timesbestseller.

In January 2020 it was reported that Archer had sued his former literary agents,Curtis Brown,for £500,000 in unpaid royalties.

Return to politics

Deputy party chairman

Archer's political career revived in the 1980s, and he became a popular speaker among the Conservative grassroots. He was appointed deputy chairman of the Conservative Party byMargaret Thatcherin September 1985.Norman Tebbit,party chairman, had misgivings over the appointment, as did other prominent members of the party, includingWilliam WhitelawandEdward Heath.During his tenure as deputy chairman, Archer was responsible for a number of embarrassing moments, including his statement, made during a live radio interview, that many young, unemployed people were simply unwilling to find work.At the time of Archer's comment, unemployment in the UK stood at a record 3.4 million. Archer was later forced to apologise for the remark, saying that his words had been "taken out of context". Archer resigned as deputy chairman in October 1986 due to a scandal caused by an article inThe News of the World,which led with the story, "Tory boss Archer pays vice-girl", and claimed Archer had paidMonica Coghlan,a prostitute, £2,000 through an intermediary atVictoria Stationto go abroad.

Daily Starlibel case

Shortly afterThe News of the Worldstory broke, rival tabloid theDaily Starran a story alleging Archer had paid for sex with Coghlan, somethingThe News of the Worldhad been careful to avoid stating directly.Archer responded by suing theDaily Star.The case came to court in July 1987. Explaining the payment to Coghlan as the action of a philanthropist rather than that of a guilty man, Archer won the case and was awarded £500,000 damages.Archer stated he would donate the money to charity.However, this case would ultimately result in Archer's final exit from front-line politics some years later. The description the judge (Mr Justice Caulfield) gave of Mrs Archer in his jury instructions included: "RememberMary Archerin the witness-box. Your vision of her probably will never disappear. Has she elegance? Has she fragrance? Would she have, without the strain of this trial, radiance? How would she appeal? Has she had a happy married life? Has she been able to enjoy, rather than endure, her husband Jeffrey? "The judge then went on to say of Jeffrey Archer:" 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? "

Although the Archers claimed they were a normal, happily married couple, by this time, according to the journalistAdam Raphael,Jeffrey and Mary Archer were living largely separate lives. The editor of theDaily Star,Lloyd Turner,was sacked six weeks after the trial by the paper's ownerLord Stevens of Ludgate.Adam Raphael soon afterwards found proof that Archer had perjured himself at the trial, but his superiors were unwilling to take the risk of a potentially costly libel case.The News of the Worldlater settled out-of-court with Archer, acknowledging they, too, had libelled him.

Kurdish charity and peerage

WhenSaddam HusseinsuppressedKurdish uprisingsin 1991, Archer, with theRed Cross,set up the charity Simple Truth, a fundraising campaign on behalf of theKurds.In May 1991, Archer organised acharity pop concert,starringRod Stewart,Paul Simon,StingandGloria Estefan,who all performed free of charge. Archer stated that his charity had raised £57,042,000, though it was later reported that only £3 million came from theSimple Truth concertand appeal, the rest from aid projects sponsored by the British and other governments, with significant amounts pledged before the concert.The charity would later incur further controversy. Having been previously rejected,Archer was made alife peeron 27 July 1992 asBaron Archer of Weston-super-Mare,ofMarkin theCounty of Somerset.Prime MinisterJohn Majorrecommended him largely because of Archer's role in aid to the Kurds.Archer and Major had been friends for a number of years.

Political statements in 1990s

In a speech at the 1993 Conservative conference, Archer urged then Home SecretaryMichael Howard,to "Stand and deliver," saying: "Michael, I am sick and tired of being told by old people that they are frightened to open the door, they're frightened to go out at night, frightened to use the parks and byways where their parents and grandparents walked with freedom... We say to you: stand and deliver!". He then attacked violent films and urged tougher prison conditions to prevent criminals from re-offending. He criticised the role of "do-gooders" and finished off the speech by denouncing the opposition party'slaw and orderpolicies.This was a time when Archer was actively seeking another front-line political role.

OnQuestion Timeon 20 January 1994,Archer said that 18 should be the age of consent for gay sex, as opposed to 21, which it was at the time.Archer though was opposed to the age of consent for gay men being 16.HistorianDavid Starkeywas on the same edition, and said of Archer: "Englishmen like you enjoy sitting on the fence so much because you enjoy the sensation."Archer has also consistently been an opponent of a return to capital punishment.

Allegations of insider dealings

In January 1994,Mary Archer,then a director ofAnglia Television,attended a directors' meeting at which an impending takeover of Anglia Television by MAI, which ownedMeridian Broadcasting,was discussed. The following day, Jeffrey Archer bought 50,000 shares in Anglia Television, acting on behalf of a friend, Broosk Saib. Shortly after this, it was announced publicly that Anglia Television would be taken over by MAI. As a result, the shares jumped in value, whereupon Archer sold them on behalf of his friend for a profit of £77,219.The arrangements he made with the stockbrokers meant he did not have to pay at the time of buying the shares.

An inquiry was launched by theStock Exchangeinto possibleinsider trading.TheDepartment of Trade and Industry,headed byMichael Heseltine,announced that Archer would not be prosecuted due to insufficient evidence. His solicitors admitted that he had made a mistake, but Archer later said that he had been exonerated.

London mayoral candidature

In 1999, Archer had been selected by the Conservative Party as candidate for theLondon mayoral election of 2000,with the support of two former Prime Ministers,Baroness ThatcherandJohn Major.

On 21 November 1999 theNews of the Worldpublished allegations made by Ted Francis, a former friend, that Archer had committedperjuryin his 1987 libel case. Archer withdrew his candidature the following day.After the allegations broke, Archer was disowned by his party. Conservative leaderWilliam Hagueexplained: "This is the end of politics for Jeffrey Archer. I will not tolerate such behaviour in my party."On 4 February 2000, Archer was expelled from the party for five years.

Perjury trial and imprisonment

Trial

On 26 September 2000, Archer was charged with perjury andperverting the course of justiceduring the 1987 libel trial.Ted Francis was charged with perverting the course of justice.Simultaneously, Archer starred in a production of his own courtroom playThe Accused,staged at London'sTheatre Royal Haymarket.The play concerned the court trial of an alleged murderer and assigned the role of jury to the audience, which would vote on the guilt of Archer's character at the end of each performance.

The perjury trial began on 30 May 2001, a month afterMonica Coghlan's death in a road traffic collision.Ted Francis claimed that Archer had asked him to provide a false alibi for the night Archer was alleged to have been with Monica Coghlan.Angela Peppiatt, Archer's former personal assistant, also claimed Archer had fabricated an alibi in the 1987 trial. Peppiatt had kept a diary of Archer's movements, which contradicted evidence given during the 1987 trial.Andrina Colquhoun, Archer's former mistress, confirmed that they had been having an affair in the 1980s, thus contradicting the claim that he and Mary Archer had been "happily married" at the time of the trial.

Archer never spoke during the trial, though his wife Mary again gave evidence as she had done during the 1987 trial.On 19 July 2001, Archer was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice at the 1987 trial. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment byMr Justice Potts.Francis was found not guilty. Prominent journalists admitted to having accepted Archer's hospitality after he was convicted.Archer's mother had died shortly before he was sentenced and he was released for the day to attend her funeral.

Prison

Archer was initially sent toHM Prison Belmarsh,aCategory "A"prison, but was moved toHM Prison Wayland,a Category "C" prison inNorfolk,on 9 August 2001. Despite automatically qualifying as a category "D" prisoner, given it was a first conviction and he did not pose a serious risk of harm to the public, his status as such was suspended pending a police investigation intoallegations about his Kurdish charity.He was then transferred toHM Prison North Sea Camp,anopen prison,in October 2001. From there he was let out to work, briefly, at theTheatre RoyalinLincoln,and allowed occasional home visits.

Media reports claimed he had abused this privilege by attending a lunch with a friend, Education SecretaryGillian Shephard.In September 2002 he was transferred to a Category "B" prison,Lincoln.After three weeks, he was moved to the Category "D"HM Prison Hollesley Bayin Suffolk.

During his imprisonment, Archer was visited by a number of high-profile friends, including actorDonald Sindenand entertainerBarry Humphries.

In October 2002, Archer repaid theDaily Starthe £500,000 damages he had received in 1987, as well as legal costs and interest of £1.3 million.That month, he was suspended fromMarylebone Cricket Clubfor seven years.

On 21 July 2003, Archer was released on licence from Hollesley Bay after serving half of hissentence. He remained a peer, there being no legal provision through which his peerage could be removed at the time other than passing a new Act of Parliament.He also retained membership of the House of Lords, which did not then have the power to expel members; however, Archer did not take an active part in parliamentary proceedings until his retirement from the Lords on 4 July 2024. Politically, he was anon-affiliated member of the House of Lords.

Prison diaries

While in prison, Archer wrote the three-volume memoirA Prison Diary,with volumes fashioned afterDante'sDivine Comedy,and named after the first three prisons in which he was kept.His prison term also served as inspiration for nine of the 12 short stories in the collectionCat O' Nine Tales.

Kurdish aid controversy

In July 2001, shortly after Archer was jailed for perjury,Scotland Yardbegan investigating allegations that millions of pounds had disappeared from his Kurdish charity.In 1991, Archer had claimed to have raised £57,042,000.In 1992, the Kurdish Disaster Fund wrote to Archer, complaining: "You must be concerned that the Kurdish refugees have seen hardly any of the huge sums raised in the west in their name." Kurdish groups claimed that little more than £250,000 had been received by groups in Iraq.

ABritish Red Cross-commissionedKPMGaudit of the cash showed no donations were handled by Archer and any misappropriation was "unlikely"; however, KPMG also could find no evidence to support Archer's claims to have raised £31.5 million from overseas governments. The police said they would launch a "preliminary assessment of the facts" from the audit but were not investigating the Simple Truth fund.

Subsequent incidents

In 2004, the government ofEquatorial Guineaalleged that Archer was one of the financiers of thefailed 2004 coup d'état attemptagainst it, citing bank details and telephone records as evidence.In 2009, Archer said: "I am completely relaxed about it.Mr Mann[Simon Mann, the English mercenary leader of the coup] has made clear that it's nothing to do with me. "In 2011, Mann, imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea for his role in leading the failed 2004 coup d'état but released on humanitarian grounds later, toldThe Daily Telegraphthat his forthcoming book,Cry Havoc,would reveal "the financial involvement of a controversial and internationally famous member of the British House of Lords in the plot, backed up by banking records." He claimed documents from the bank accounts inGuernseyof two companies Mann used as vehicles for organising the coup, showed a 'J H Archer' paying $135,000 into one of the firms.

Personal life

Archer has been married toMary Weedensince July 1966.They met at Oxford University, where Weeden was studyingchemistryatSt Anne's College.She went on to specialise in solar power.

They have two children: William Archer (born 1972), a theatrical producer,andJames Archer(born 1974), a financial adviser and businessman.

In 1979, the Archers purchased theOld Vicarage, Grantchester,a house associated with the poetRupert Brooke.Every summer, they host a lavish garden party in the grounds to celebrate their wedding anniversary.Following the near-bankruptcy of the Aquablast scandal, by the early 1980s, Archer was back in a comfortable financial position and began to holdshepherd's pieandKrugparties for prominent people at his Londonpenthouse,which overlooks theRiver Thamesand theHouses of Parliament.

On 26 February 2006, onAndrew Marr'sSunday AMprogramme, Archer said he had no interest in returning to front-line politics and would pursue his writing instead.

Archer in fiction

Archer was satirically portrayed as a misunderstood secret agent, saviour of Britain and mankind and "overall thoroughly good chap", by actorDamian Lewisin the BBC dramaJeffrey Archer: The Truth(2002).ScriptwriterGuy Jenkinexplained that "my Jeffrey Archer is the man who has frequently saved Britain over the last 30 years. He's beloved of all women he comes across, all men, all dogs—he's a superhero."Ian HislopandNick Newman's 1994BBC Radio 4satirical seriesGushpurported to be "written by master storyteller Archie Jeffries".

In the Amazon seriesGood Omens,a reference is made by one of the angels in Aziraphale's bookshop: "Something smells evil." Aziraphale replies, "Oh, that would be the Jeffrey Archer books, I'm afraid."

In theDoctor WhoepisodeSilence in the Library,the Doctor mentions that the Library has whole continents of Jeffrey Archer.

Works

Archer has published 42 works, which have been translated into 33 languages, with combined sales of more than 275 million copies.

Kane and Abel series

• Kane and Abel(1979)
• The Prodigal Daughter(1982)
• Shall We Tell the President?(1986 - revised edition)

Clifton Chronicles

• Only Time Will Tell(2011)
• The Sins of the Father(2012)
• Best Kept Secret(2013)
• Be Careful What You Wish For(2014)
• Mightier Than the Sword(2015)
• Cometh The Hour(2016)
• This Was a Man(2016)

William Warwick series

• Nothing Ventured(2019)
• Hidden in Plain Sight(2020)
• Turn a Blind Eye(2021)
• Over My Dead Body(2021)
• Next in Line(2022)
• Traitor's Gate(2023)
• An Eye for an Eye(2024)

Other novels

• Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less(1976)
• First Among Equals(1984)
• A Matter of Honour(1986)
• As the Crow Flies(1991)
• Honour Among Thieves(1993)
• The Fourth Estate(1996)
• The Eleventh Commandment(1998)
• Sons of Fortune(2002)
• False Impression(2005)
• The Gospel According to Judasby Benjamin Iscariot,with Francis J. Moloney (2007)
• A Prisoner of Birth(2008)
• Paths of Glory(2009)
• Heads You Win(2018)

Short stories/collections

• A Quiver Full of Arrows(including "Old Love") (1980)
• A Twist in the Tale(1988)
• Fools, Knaves, and Heroes: Great Political Short StoriesEditor, Introduction. (1991)
• Twelve Red Herrings(1994)
• The Collected Short Stories(1997) CollectsA Quiver Full of Arrows,A Twist in the TaleandTwelve Red Herrings
• To Cut a Long Story Short(2000)
• Cat O'Nine Tales(2006)
• And Thereby Hangs a Tale(2010)
• The New Collected Short Stories(2011) CollectsTo Cut a Long Story Short,Cat O'Nine Tales,andAnd Thereby Hangs a Tale
• The Jeffrey Archer Short Story Challenge CollectionEditor, Contributor (Unique) (2013)
• Four Warned(Quick Reads, 2014) Four shorts stories, all previously published (inTwelve Red Herrings,Cat O'Nine TalesandAnd Thereby Hangs a Tale)
• It Can't Be October Already(2017) Single short story (included inCat O'Nine Tales)
• Tell Tale(2017)
• The Short, the Long and the Tall(2020)

Plays

• Beyond Reasonable Doubt(1987)
• Exclusive(1989)
• The Accused(2000)

Prison diaries (non-fiction)

• 1.Hell — Belmarsh(2002)
• 2.Purgatory — Wayland(2003)
• 3.Heaven — North Sea Camp(2004)

For children

• By Royal Appointment(1980)
• Willy Visits the Square World(1980)
• Willy and the Killer Kipper(1981)
• The First Miracle(1994)

See also

• Jonathan Aitken—Archer's contemporary, another Conservative politician imprisoned for perjury
• Chris Huhne—Liberal Democrat politician, imprisoned for perverting the course of justice

Further reading

• Crick, Michael(1995).Jeffrey Archer: Stranger than Fiction.London: Hamish Hamilton.ISBN0-241-13360-2.OCLC34767296.
• Mantle, Jonathan (1993).In for a Penny: Unauthorized Biography of Jeffrey Archer(Revised ed.). London: Warner.ISBN978-0751501841.OCLC28928057.
• Raphael, Adam(1989).My Learned Friends: An Insider's View of the Jeffrey Archer Case and Other Notorious Actions.London: W. H. Allen & Co.ISBN978-1-85227-094-0.OCLC22628264.

External links

• Official website
• Profileat theParliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in ParliamentatHansard1803–2005
• Voting recordatPublicWhip.org
• Record in ParliamentatTheyWorkForYou.com
• ProfileatBBC NewsDemocracy Live
• Articles authoredatJournalisted
• AppearancesonC-SPAN
• Jeffrey ArcheronCharlie Rose
• Jeffrey ArcheratIMDb
• Jeffrey Archercollected news and commentary atThe Guardian
• Jeffrey Archercollected news and commentary atThe New York Times
• In Depth: Archer TrialArchived4 June 2006 at theWayback Machine,bbc.co.uk; accessed 26 November 2015.
• Curtis Brown Literary AgencyArchived9 March 2016 at theWayback Machine,curtisbrown.co.uk; accessed 26 November 2014.

Interviews

• Interview about becoming Mayor of LondonArchived22 December 2007 at theWayback MachineatBBC News
• Interview with Jeffrey Archer on Veronika Asks
• Writing tips from Jeffrey ArcherArchived14 March 2011 at theWayback Machine
• Interview of Jeffrey Archer in the HinduArchived24 October 2012 at theWayback Machine
• Jeffrey Archer 'The Sins of the Father' interviewArchived17 April 2012 at theWayback Machine
• Interview With Author Jeffrey ArcherArchived19 September 2020 at theWayback Machine