Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare is an English novelist and former politician. He was born on 15 April 1940 in London. Archer served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth (Lincolnshire) from 1969 to 1974 but chose not to seek re-election following a financial scandal that nearly led to his bankruptcy.

He revitalized his career as a novelist, with his novel Kane and Abel (1979) becoming one of the best-selling books worldwide, with an estimated 34 million copies sold globally. Overall, his books have sold more than 320 million copies worldwide.

Archer was the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party from 1985 to 1986, resigning after a newspaper accused him of paying money to a prostitute. He won a civil case in 1987 and was awarded substantial damages due to this claim. He was made a life peer in 1992 and became the first Conservative candidate to be selected as a candidate for mayor of London, although he withdrew his candidacy in 1999 after it emerged he had lied in the 1987 case. In 2001, Archer was sentenced to four years of imprisonment for perjury and perverting the course of justice, which marked the end of his active political career. He was released early in 2003.

Jeffrey Archer is published in 114 countries and more than 47 languages, with international sales surpassing 275 million copies. He is the only author to have been a number one bestseller in fiction, short stories, and non-fiction. Jeffrey has been married for 53 years to Dame Mary Archer DBE. They have two sons, William and James, three grandsons, and two granddaughters, and divide their time between homes in London, Cambridge, and Mallorca.