Editing Jeffrey Archer (section)

==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 by [[Margaret Thatcher]] in September 1985. [[Norman Tebbit]], party chairman, had misgivings over the appointment, as did other prominent members of the party, including [[William Whitelaw]] and [[Edward Heath]].<ref name=Jeffrey/> 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.<ref name=Jack/> 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 in ''The [[News of the World]]'', which led with the story, "Tory boss Archer pays vice-girl", and claimed Archer had paid [[Monica Coghlan]], a prostitute, £2,000 through an intermediary at [[London Victoria station|Victoria Station]] to go abroad.<ref name=Davies/>

===''Daily Star'' libel case===
Shortly after ''The News of the World'' story broke, rival tabloid the ''[[Daily Star (United Kingdom)|Daily Star]]'' ran a story alleging Archer had paid for sex with Coghlan, something ''The News of the World'' had been careful to avoid stating directly.<ref name=Davies/> Archer responded by suing the ''Daily Star''.<ref name=defamation>{{cite web|title=Jeffrey Archer v Daily Star (1987): You could write a book about it|url=http://defamationwatch.com.au/?page_id=301|website=www.defamationwatch.com.au|access-date=22 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223055432/http://defamationwatch.com.au/?page_id=301|archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Rawnsley>{{cite news|last1=Rawnsley|first1=Andrew|title=Archer wins record £500,000 damages|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1987/jul/25/archer.politics|access-date=22 December 2015|work=The Guardian|date=25 July 1987|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223131420/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1987/jul/25/archer.politics|archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref> Archer stated he would donate the money to charity.<ref name=Sengupta>{{cite news|last1=Sengupta|first1=Kim|title=Archer accused of failing to give libel win to charity|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/archer-accused-of-failing-to-give-libel-win-to-charity-9188636.html|access-date=22 December 2015|work=The Independent|date=28 June 2001|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223080308/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/archer-accused-of-failing-to-give-libel-win-to-charity-9188636.html|archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref> However, this case would ultimately result in Archer's final exit from front-line politics some years later. The description the judge ([[Bernard Caulfield (judge)|Mr Justice Caulfield]]) gave of Mrs Archer in his jury instructions included: "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?"<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1388341.stm|date=14 June 2001|title=Archer marriage under spotlight|access-date=1 December 2007|publisher=BBC|location=London, UK|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523055745/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1388341.stm|archive-date=23 May 2010}}</ref>

Although the Archers claimed they were a normal, happily married couple, by this time, according to the journalist [[Adam Raphael]], Jeffrey and Mary Archer were living largely separate lives. The editor of the ''Daily Star'', [[Lloyd Turner (journalist)|Lloyd Turner]], was sacked six weeks after the trial by the paper's owner [[Lord Stevens of Ludgate]].<ref name="DTI">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1447018.stm|title=Star demands £2.2m from Archer|work=BBC News|date=19 July 2001|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040718112616/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1447018.stm|archive-date=18 July 2004}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Raphael>{{cite news|last1=Raphael|first1=Adam|title=His guilt was writ large|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jul/22/conservatives.archer|access-date=23 December 2015|work=The Observer|date=22 July 2001|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223151801/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jul/22/conservatives.archer|archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref> ''The News of the World'' later settled out-of-court with Archer, acknowledging they, too, had libelled him.<ref name=Rawnsley/>

===Kurdish charity and peerage===
When [[Saddam Hussein]] suppressed [[1991 uprisings in Iraq|Kurdish uprisings]] in 1991, Archer, with the [[Red Cross]], set up the charity Simple Truth, a fundraising campaign on behalf of the [[Kurds]].<ref name="ST"/> In May 1991, Archer organised a [[Benefit concert|charity pop concert]], starring [[Rod Stewart]], [[Paul Simon]], [[Sting (musician)|Sting]] and [[Gloria 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 the [[The Simple Truth: A Concert for Kurdish Refugees|Simple Truth concert]] and appeal, the rest from aid projects sponsored by the British and other governments, with significant amounts pledged before the concert.<ref name="ST"/> The charity would later incur further controversy. Having been previously rejected,<ref name="ST">{{Cite news|date=16 August 2001|title=Archer fraud allegations: the simple truth|language=en-GB|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/16/qanda.politics|access-date=13 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427100741/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/16/qanda.politics|archive-date=27 April 2022|first=Matthew|last=Matthew Tempest|location=London|url-status=live}}</ref> Archer was made a [[life peer]] on 27 July 1992 as '''Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare''', ''of [[Mark, Somerset|Mark]] in the [[County of Somerset]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=53005 |date=30 July 1992 |page=12843}}</ref> Prime Minister [[John Major]] recommended him largely because of Archer's role in aid to the Kurds.<ref name="ST"/> Archer and Major had been friends for a number of years.<ref name=Young>{{cite news|last1=Young|first1=Hugo|title=Honest John Major landed his party with Lord Archer|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/23/archer.politics1|access-date=22 December 2015|work=The Guardian|date=23 November 1999|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223131355/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/23/archer.politics1|archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref>

===Political statements in 1990s===
In a speech at the 1993 Conservative conference, Archer urged 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&nbsp;... 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 (politics)|law and order]] policies.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Travis|first1=Alan|title=Archer offers advice on penal reform|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/sep/18/archer.conservatives|access-date=3 November 2015|work=The Guardian|date=8 September 2003|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223131424/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/sep/18/archer.conservatives|archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref> This was a time when Archer was actively seeking another front-line political role.<ref name=DTI3>{{cite news|title=Archer in DTI shares inquiry|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1994/jul/08/archer.politics|access-date=22 December 2015|work=The Guardian|date=8 July 1994|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223131404/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1994/jul/08/archer.politics|archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref>

On ''[[Question Time (TV programme)|Question Time]]'' on 20 January 1994,<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1147225/ ''Question Time'', 20 January 1994] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619082604/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1147225/ |date=19 June 2015 }}, IMDb</ref> Archer said that 18 should be the age of consent for gay sex, as opposed to 21, which it was at the time.<ref name="GuardianQT">[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/sep/19/question-time-30-years "The guidelines: Question Time turns 30"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091119/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/sep/19/question-time-30-years |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', 19 September 2009.</ref> Archer though was opposed to the age of consent for gay men being 16.<ref name="Starkey">Ben Summerskill [https://books.google.com/books?id=ONBzmR_cnQQC&pg=PA99 ''The Way We Are Now: Gay and Lesbian Lives in the 21st Century''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209135203/https://books.google.com/books?id=ONBzmR_cnQQC&pg=PA99 |date=9 December 2017 }}, London: Continuum, 2006, p.99<!-- Google Books say Bloomsbury, but the Continuum logo is on the back cover; copyright page is missing from the preview. --></ref> Historian [[David Starkey]] was on the same edition, and said of Archer: "Englishmen like you enjoy sitting on the fence so much because you enjoy the sensation."<ref name="GuardianQT"/><ref name="Starkey"/> Archer has also consistently been an opponent of a return to capital punishment.<ref>{{cite web|title=Only Time Will Tell (Archer) – Author Bio|url=http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/8636-only-time-will-tell-archer?start=1|publisher=Lit Lovers|access-date=2 July 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714170037/http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/8636-only-time-will-tell-archer?start=1|archive-date=14 July 2014}}</ref>

===Allegations of insider dealings===
In January 1994, [[Mary Archer]], then a director of [[Anglia Television]], attended a directors' meeting at which an impending takeover of Anglia Television by MAI, which owned [[Meridian 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.<ref name=Watt/> The arrangements he made with the stockbrokers meant he did not have to pay at the time of buying the shares.<ref name="DTI"/>

An inquiry was launched by the [[London Stock Exchange|Stock Exchange]] into possible [[insider trading]]. The [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|Department of Trade and Industry]], headed by [[Michael 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.<ref name=Watt/>

===London mayoral candidature===
In 1999, Archer had been selected by the Conservative Party as candidate for the [[2000 London mayoral election|London mayoral election of 2000]], with the support of two former Prime Ministers, [[Baroness Thatcher]] and [[John Major]].<ref name="Econ01">[http://www.economist.com/node/705232 "Lord Archer – A taste for fiction"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221061223/http://www.economist.com/node/705232 |date=21 February 2012 }}, ''The Economist'', 19 July 2001.</ref>

On 21 November 1999 the ''[[News of the World]]'' published allegations made by Ted Francis, a former friend, that Archer had committed [[perjury]] in his 1987 libel case. Archer withdrew his candidature the following day.<ref name="Timeline: Stranger than fiction">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1420132.stm|title=Timeline: Stranger than fiction|date=8 October 2002|work=BBC|location=London, UK|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040701164924/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1420132.stm|archive-date=1 July 2004}}</ref> After the allegations broke, Archer was disowned by his party. Conservative leader [[William Hague]] explained: "This is the end of politics for Jeffrey Archer. I will not tolerate such behaviour in my party."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/archer/article/0,,195732,00.html|title=Disgraced Archer jettisoned by Tories|work=[[The Guardian Unlimited]]|date=23 November 1999|location=London|last=White|first=Michael|access-date=6 May 2010}}</ref> On 4 February 2000, Archer was expelled from the party for five years.<ref name="Timeline: Stranger than fiction"/>