Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, is an English novelist and former politician, born on 15 April 1940. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth from 1969 to 1974. Archer faced a financial scandal that nearly bankrupted him and did not seek re-election.

He revived 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. Overall, his books have sold more than 320 million copies globally.

Archer also served as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party from 1985 to 1986 but resigned after a scandal involving allegations of paying money to a prostitute. Although he won a civil case related to this claim in 1987 and was awarded damages, his political career ended after a perjury conviction in 2001, resulting in a four-year prison sentence.

He was made a life peer in 1992 and briefly ran as a Conservative candidate for mayor of London, ending his candidacy in 1999 due to revelations about lying in the 1987 case.