Jeffrey Archer

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The Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare
Member of Parliament for Louth (Lincolnshire)
In office 8 December 1969 – 10 October 1974
Preceded by	Cyril Osborne
Succeeded by	Michael Brotherton
Personal details
Born	(1940年04月15日) 15 April 1940 (age 84) London
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Mary Archer
Children	William and James Archer
Alma mater	Brasenose College, Oxford
Occupation	Politician, Author
Website	Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Archer
Occupation	novelist, short story writer, playwright
Period	1976-present
Genre	Thriller, Drama
Website
http://www.jeffreyarcher.co.uk/

Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English author and former politician. He was a Member of Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, and became a life peer in 1992. His political career, having suffered from several earlier controversies, finally ended after a conviction for perjury and his subsequent imprisonment. He is married to Mary Archer, a scientist specialising in solar power. Outside of politics, he is a novelist and short story writer.

Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in the City of London Maternity Hospital. When he was two weeks old he and his family moved to the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where he spent most of his young life. In 1951 he won a scholarship to Wellington School, in Somerset. At this time his mother, Lola, contributed a column "Over the teacups" to the local press in Weston-super-Mare and wrote about the adventures of her son 'Tuppence'; this caused Archer to be the victim of bullying while at Wellington School.^[1]

Archer left school after passing three O-levels, in English Literature, Art, and History. He worked in a number of jobs, including training with the army and for the police. He lasted only a few months in either position, but he fared reasonably well as a Physical Education teacher at Dover College. As a teacher he was popular with his pupils and was reported by some to have had good motivational skills.

He gained a place at Brasenose College, Oxford to study for a one-year diploma in education, though he eventually stayed there for three years, gaining an academic qualification in teaching awarded by the University of Oxford. There have been claims that Archer provided false evidence of his academic qualifications, for instance the apparent citing of an American institution which was actually a body building club, in gaining admission to Oxford University.^{[1] [2]}

While at Oxford he was moderately successful in athletics, competing in sprinting and hurdling. He also made a name for himself in raising money for the then little-known charity Oxfam, famously managing to obtain the support of The Beatles in a charity fundraising drive. The band accepted his invitation to visit the Senior Common Room of Brasenose College, where they were photographed with Archer and dons of the college, although they didn't play there. It was during this period that he met his future wife, Mary. They married in July 1966.

After leaving Oxford, he continued as a charity fundraiser, working for the National Birthday Trust, a medical charity. He also began a career in politics, serving as a councillor on the Greater London Council from 1967 onwards.

One other organization Archer worked for, the United Nations Association, alleged discrepancies in his claims for expenses, and details appeared in the press in a scrambled form. Archer brought a defamation action against the former Tory member of parliament Humphry Berkeley, chairman of the UNA, as the source of the allegations. This case was eventually settled out of court after three years. Berkeley tried unsuccessfully to persuade Conservative Central Office that Archer was unsuitable as a parliamentary candidate, but a selection meeting at Louth disregarded any doubts.^[1]

At the age of 29, he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lincolnshire constituency of Louth, holding the seat for the Conservative Party in a by-election on 4 December 1969. Archer beat Ian Gow to the selection after winning over a substantial proportion of younger members at the selection meeting. Archer's campaign colour was a dayglo orange/pink with a blue arrow; the political parties in Lincolnshire had not abandoned local colours which were different from the party national colours.

The Louth constituency consisted of three key areas: Louth, Cleethorpes, and Immingham. During his time as a Member of Parliament, Archer was a regular at the Immingham Conservative Club in what was traditionally the most working-class part of the constituency. Membership and activity within the local Conservative Party increased dramatically with Archer as MP, due to his energy and campaigning skills. His flamboyant personality and professionalism (he always drank orange juice) won him many friends in the town and the local party.

In Parliament, Archer was on the left of the Conservative Party, rebelling against some of his party's policies. He urged free TV licences for the elderly and was against museum charges. Archer voted against restoring capital punishment, saying it was barbaric and obscene. In 1971 he employed David Mellor, then needing money for his bar finals, to deal with his correspondence. He tipped Mellor to reach the cabinet in the future. In an interview Archer once said that "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."^[3]

In 1974, Archer was a casualty of a fraudulent investment scheme involving Aquablast, a Canadian company. The debacle resulted in the loss of Archer's first fortune ^[1] and faced with likely bankruptcy, he stood down as an MP at the October 1974 general election.

Archer remained as Honorary President of the Immingham Conservative Party until he withdrew from the 2000 election for Mayor of London in 1999. Archer is to this day considered to be a local celebrity by the people of Immingham who were around when he was their Member of Parliament (although Archer has no family or business connections with the area). His increasingly rare visits to northern Lincolnshire continue to attract considerable local public interest.

His first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less was a success, and he ultimately avoided bankruptcy, never being legally declared bankrupt. While he was a witness in the Aquablast case in Toronto, he was accused of taking three suits from a department store.^[1] No charges were brought.

Kane and Abel proved to be his best-selling work, reaching number one on the New York Times bestsellers list. It was made into a television mini-series. His books require extensive editing by others to make them readable. ^{[4] [5]}

Archer purchased the Old Vicarage, Grantchester, a house associated with the poet Rupert Brooke. He also began to hold shepherd's pie and Krug parties for prominent people at his London apartment, which overlooked the Houses of Parliament.^[1]

Archer's political career revived once he became well known for his novels and as a popular speaker among the Conservative grassroots. He was made Deputy Chairman of the Conservative party by Margaret Thatcher in 1985. Norman Tebbit, then party chairman, had misgivings over the wisdom of the appointment. In the summer of 1986 Archer suggested that John Major would be a future Prime Minister.^{[citation needed ]}

Another scandal arose leading to his resignation in October 1986, when The News of the World led on the story "Tory boss Archer pays vice-girl". The article claimed that Archer had paid Monica Coghlan, a prostitute, 2000ドル through an intermediary at Victoria Station to go abroad. Unlike the Daily Star, the newspaper did not allege that Archer had actually slept with Coghlan.^[1] Archer sued the Daily Star .

In 1992, after having been previously rejected,^[6] Archer was made a life peer as Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, of Mark in the County of Somerset by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister John Major.

In a speech at the 1993 Conservative party conference, Archer urged the then Home Secretary Michael 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's Law and Order policies.^[7] . On Question Time in February 1994, Archer stated that the age of 18 should be the new age of consent for homosexuality, as opposed to 21, which it was at the time, or 16, which it was to be made in 1999. Archer has also consistently been an opponent of any return to Capital punishment.

In July 1987, the libel case over the allegation that Archer had had sex with Monica Coghlan came to court. The payment to Coghlan was explained as the action of a philanthropist rather than that of a guilty man. He won the case and was awarded 500,000ドル damages. Archer claimed he would donate the money to charity, although it has not been verified that he did so. This case would be the reason for Archer's final exit from front-line politics some years later.

There was widespread astonishment at the description the judge (Mr Justice Caulfield) gave of Mrs Archer^[8] in his jury instructions: "Remember Mary Archer in 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?" By this time, according to the journalist Adam Raphael, Jeffrey and Mary Archer were in fact, living largely separate lives.

The editor of the Daily Star, Lloyd Turner, was sacked six weeks after the trial by the paper's owner Lord Stevens of Ludgate.^[9] He died of a heart attack in September 1996. Coghlan died in 2001 after being struck by a stolen car driven by a drunken drug addict fleeing an armed robbery.^[10]

In January 1994, Mary Archer, a director of Anglia Television, attended a directors' meeting at which an impending takeover of Anglia Television by MAI, who owned Meridian Broadcasting, was discussed.^[11] The following day, Jeffrey Archer bought 50,000 shares in Anglia Television, acting on behalf of a friend, Broosk Saib.^[9] 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ドル.^[11] The arrangements he had made with the stockbrokers, which he had never used before^{[citation needed ]}, meant that he did not have to pay at the time of buying the shares.^[9]

An inquiry was launched by the Stock Exchange into possible insider trading. The Department of Trade and Industry, headed by Michael Heseltine, later announced that Archer would not be prosecuted.^[11]

In July 2001, Scotland Yard began investigating allegations that millions of pounds has disappeared from Simple Truth, a fundraising campaign run by Archer. He set up a charity in conjunction with the Red Cross. He employed two Kurdish aides, Broosk Saib and Nadhim Zahawi, whom he nicknamed "Lemon Kurd and Bean Kurd."^[6]

In May 1991, Archer organised a charity pop concert in aid of the Kurds of Iraq, starring Rod Stewart, Paul Simon, Sting and Gloria Estefan, who all performed for free. On June 19, 1991, Jeffrey Archer held up a cheque for 57,042,000,ドル around 3ドル million came from the Simple Truth concert and appeal, 10ドルm from the UK government, and the remaining 43ドル million from overseas governments' aid projects, with significant amounts pledged before the concert. The campaign led John Major to recommend Archer for his peerage.^[6]

In 1992 the Kurdish Disaster Fund wrote to Mr 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 little more than 250,000ドル had been received by groups in Iraq. Former Conservative Party vice chairman Lady Nicholson said "practically nothing" of the 57ドル million Archer said he collected had reached the Kurdish people.^[12] Archer then went to Iraq on a fact-finding mission, where his chant of "Long Live Kurdistan" was unfortunately mis-translated as "Bastard, Devilish Kurdistan."^[6]

A British Red Cross-commissioned KPMG audit of the cash showed no donations were handled by Archer and any misappropriation was "unlikely". But KPMG said it could find no evidence to support Archer's claims to have raised 31ドル.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.^[13]

Archer had been selected by the Conservative Party as their candidate for the London mayoral election of 2000. He was forced to withdraw from the race when it was revealed that he was facing a charge of perjury.

In November 1999 Ted Francis, a friend (who claimed Archer owed him money) and Archer's former personal assistant Angela Peppiatt (whom Archer had been semi-maintaining) claimed that he had fabricated an alibi in the 1987 trial. They were apparently concerned that Archer was standing as Mayor of London and doubted that he was suitable for the post. The personal secretary had apparently kept a secret diary of Archer's movements. This formed the basis of the case against Archer.

The News of the World printed the allegations on 21 November, 1999 and Archer withdrew his candidacy the following day. Conservative leader William Hague said "This is the end of Politics for Jeffrey Archer. I will not tolerate such behaviour in my party".^[14] On 8 October he had described Archer as a candidate of "Probity and integrity. I'm going to back him all the way" at the Conservative party conference. Hague was never keen on Archer's running for the job ^{[citation needed ]} but as Archer had won in the ballot of London Conservative members he was forced to back him.

On 4 February, 2000 Archer was expelled from the Conservative Party for five years. On 26 September, 2000 he was charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice during the 1987 libel trial.

A few months before the beginning of the perjury trial, Archer began performing in the star role in a courtroom play (which he also wrote) called The Accused. The play was staged at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket and concerns the court trial of an alleged murderer from beginning to end. The play used the technique (first used by Ayn Rand in her play The Night of January 16 ) of assigning the role of jury in the trial to the audience, with theatre-goers voting on whether Archer's character was innocent or guilty at the end of each night's performance. Archer would attend his real trial during the day and be judged in his fictional trial at the theatre in the evening.

The real life trial began on 30 May, 2001. On 19 July, 2001 Archer was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice (meaning he can legally be called a liar, as has been done on the BBC's Have I Got News For You programme several times) at the 1987 trial. He was sentenced to a total of four years' imprisonment by Mr. Justice Potts. Archer never spoke during the trial. Ted Francis was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice.

Archer's mother died on 11 July, 2001 aged 87, and he was released for the day on 21 July to attend the funeral.

Archer originally was sent to Belmarsh Prison, but was moved to the category "C" Wayland Prison in Norfolk on 9 August, 2001, and to HMP North Sea Camp, an open prison in October 2001. From there he was let out to work at the Theatre Royal in Lincoln, England, and was allowed occasional home visits. Reports in the media, which showed a continuing interest in him, claimed that he had been abusing this privilege by attending lunches with friends, including former Education Secretary Gillian Shepherrd and in September 2002 he was transferred to Lincoln Prison for a month. While in prison, he wrote the three volume memoir A Prison Diary which argues his innocence while skirting the details of the alleged crime to avoid being accuse of profiting from his offense.

In October 2002 Archer repaid the Daily Star the 500,000ドル damages he had received in 1987, as well as legal costs of 1ドル million. That month, he was suspended from Marylebone Cricket Club for seven years for his behaviour.

On 21 July, 2003 he was released on licence, after serving half of his sentence, from HMP Hollesley Bay, Suffolk.

Many of Archer's friends remained loyal to him. He and Lady Archer were invited guests to the Memorial Service for Norris McWhirter at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields on Thursday, 7 October, 2004 where they were observed sitting in the same pew as former head of the Conservative Monday Club, Gregory Lauder-Frost, and directly in front of Lady Thatcher, who made a point of embracing Lady Archer.

On 26 February, 2006 on Andrew Marr's Sunday AM programme, Archer said he had no interest in returning to politics: he would pursue his writing career instead.^[15]

In 2004, The Equatorial Guinea government alleged that Archer was one of the financiers of the failed 2004 coup d'état attempt against them, citing bank details and telephone records as evidence.^[16]

Jeffrey Archer was satirically portrayed as a much-misunderstood secret agent, saviour of Britain and mankind and "overall thoroughly good chap" by actor Damian Lewis in the BBC drama Jeffrey Archer: The Truth (2002),^[17] which received strong reviews. Script writer Guy Jenkin explained 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".

In There's No Place Like a Home , a comedy play by Paul Elliot, the residents of a retirement home for actors and actresses, trying to prevent its closure, kidnap Jeffrey Archer in an attempt to use the ransom money to keep their home open.

Archer was a judge on the ITV1 show Fortune: Million Pound Giveaway .

Year	Title	Notes
1976	Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
1977	Shall We Tell the President?
1979	Kane and Abel
1980	Willy visits the Square World (with illustrations by Derek Matthews)	Jeffrey Archer's first Children's book
1980	By Royal Appointment (with illustrations by Peter Longden)	Jeffrey Archer's second Children's book
1980	A Quiver Full of Arrows	Short story collection
1981	Willy and the Killer Kipper (with illustrations by Derek Matthews)	Jeffrey Archer's third Children's book
1982	The Prodigal Daughter
1984	First Among Equals
1986	A Matter of Honour
1987	Beyond Reasonable Doubt	Play
1987	Shall We Tell the President?	Second version
1989	A Twist in the Tale	Short story collection
1989	Exclusive	Play
1991	As the Crow Flies
1993	Honour Among Thieves
1994	Twelve Red Herrings	Short story collection
1996	The Fourth Estate
1998	The Eleventh Commandment
2000	To Cut a Long Story Short	Short story collection
2000	The Accused	Courtroom play
2002	Sons of Fortune
2002	A Prison Diary
2003	A Prison Diary Volume 2
2004	A Prison Diary Volume 3
2004	In the Lap of the Gods
2006	False Impression
2006	Cat O'Nine Tales (with illustrations by Ronald Searle)	Short story collection
2007	The Gospel According to Judas (with Francis J. Moloney)
2008	A Prisoner of Birth
2008	Paths of Glory

• Raphael, Adam (1989). My Learned Friends: an Insider's View of the Jeffrey Archer Case and Other Notorious Actions. ISBN 9781852270940.
• Crick, Michael. Jeffrey Archer: Stranger than Fiction. ISBN 0-241-13360-2.

• Filmed interview from March 2008at Access Interviews
• Interview about becoming Mayor of London at BBC News
• Jeffrey Archer's official Web site
• News In Depth: The Archer trial at BBC News
• "The Times" - "Activists demand tough line on crime - Conservative Party conference" - October 7 1993.
• Coverage of the Archer trial at The Guardian
• Review of Jeffrey Archer's 2000 courtroom play, The Accused at Curtain Up
• Anglia shares at BBC News
• Archer in DTI shares inquiry at The Guardian
• The webpage for the book 'The Wonga Coup'
• Template:WiredForBooks
• Jeffrey Archer: Special Report at The Guardian
• Jeffrey Archer at IMDb

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Cyril Osborne	Member of Parliament for Louth 1969–1974	Succeeded by Michael Brotherton

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