Bestselling novelist and former MP Jeffrey Archer dies aged 86

New here? Start with this

Jeffrey Archer was one of the world's most commercially successful novelists. He was also a British politician who served as an MP and later became a life peer, combining two high-profile careers in an unusual way.

His breakthrough came with Kane and Abel in 1979, which sold over 30 million copies and became one of the best-selling books of all time. This success launched a prolific writing career spanning decades, during which his works sold more than 300 million copies across 115 countries.

Archer's dual prominence in both politics and popular fiction set him apart. Few British figures have achieved comparable success in both worlds, making him a distinctive presence in British cultural and political life for much of the past half-century.