Jeffrey Archer has died suddenly and peacefully at home aged 86, publishers HarperCollins have announced.

The best-selling novelist passed away ‘between writing sessions’ just a day before the scheduled release of his new book Adam And Eve, the publisher added.

His novels have sold more than 300million copies in 115 countries. He leaves his wife Dame Mary, 81, an eminent scientist, and sons William, 54, and James, 52 – and five young grandchildren.

Lord Archer was the MP for Louth between 1969 and 1974 and later entered the House of Lords in 1992 after being made a life peer.

After losing his seat in the 70s, he turned to writing with his 1979 novel Kane And Abel still one of the best selling books in the world having sold over 30 million copies.

Reviving his political career the following decade, Lord Archer became the deputy chairman of the Conservative party in 1985 while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.

He announced in 1999 he was running for the Mayor of London for the Tories, receiving the backing of Baroness Thatcher and John Major.

Lord Archer and Dame Mary celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in July with a garden party for 321 friends at their second home, the Old Vicarage in Grantchester, Cambridge.

The couple also owned a penthouse on the Thames as well as a place in Majorca, where Jeffrey wrote many of his novels.

Estimates this year placed the novelist’s fortune at around £200million but he declined to comment on this when speaking to the Daily Mail in September. 

Lord Archer’s last interview was with the Daily Mail last month where he discussed his career and health issues.

Jeffrey Archer, pictured with his wife Mary, has died ‘suddenly and peacefully at home’ aged 86, publishers Harper Collins have announced 

Lord Archer pictured with Margaret Thatcher in 1986. His novels have sold more than 300million copies in 115 countries

The novelist leaves his wife Dame Mary, 81, an eminent scientist, and sons William, 54, and James, 52 – and five young grandchildren

Following a cancer diagnosis in 2013, Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare had surgery to remove his prostate which, he revealed, rendered him permanently impotent. 

‘I’d rather have a life. “Fertile and dead”. It’s not much of a choice, is it?’ he previously said.

Adam And Eve was always to be his final novel, with Lord Archer telling this paper: ‘I’m 86. I don’t think I could do it again. So why not go now?

‘It’s hard work. I write every word in longhand with felt tip pen on a 32-line pad. I hand-wrote 18 drafts over two years. I don’t know how to turn on a computer.’

He added in September: ‘I find old age tiresome. I don’t think I’d like to live to 100. I have a hip problem. 

‘I can’t move as fast as I’d like to but thankfully Mary and I both seem to be firing on all cylinders mentally.

‘Alzheimer’s is my biggest dread, so I test my memory all the time; for names, places, events.’

‘I’m conscious that time is precious now’, Mary – who previously overcame bladder cancer – told the Daily Mail in September. 

‘We must use it well and I’d rather spend our old age together than apart. We’ve both been through cancer.’  

After suffering financial difficulties following the end of his first stint in politics in 1974, Jeffrey and Mary were saved first by her offer of a teaching job at Cambridge University, and later by his £2million advance for Kane And Abel.

Lord Archer was forced to resign as deputy chairman of the Conservatives after he was accused of paying money to a sex worker. 

He won a libel case in 1987 over the claims and was awarded large damages.

Lord Archer’s infidelities were publicly documented during and after his subsequent trial for perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001, for which he was found guilty and served two years in prison. 

Lord Archer pictured with Thatcher in 1986. He was the MP for Louth between 1969 and 1974 and later entered the House of Lords in 1992

The novelist pictured addressing the Oxford Union in 2017

Lord Archer was forced to resign as deputy chairman of the Conservatives after he was accused of paying money to a sex worker but won a libel case in 1987 over the claims

He famously had a three-year affair with the late actress Sally Farmiloe, and another with his then secretary Andrina Colquhoun.

Dame Mary once said she’d never considered divorcing her husband but had come close to murdering him. 

In his interview with the Daily Mail, he reflected on ambitions he never realised, saying: ‘I wish I’d won an Olympic gold and become Mayor of London.’

Lord Archer’s dream of running the capital was ended when it emerged he had lied in the libel case.