Jeffrey Archer: a tribute | The Margaret Thatcher Centre

The news this evening that Jeffrey Archer has died has knocked me sideways. I had had the privilege of knowing Jeffrey as a friend since 1999 when he asked me to help with his youth campaign when he was exploring a mayoral run in London and I was the elected head of the Conservatives' youth wing at the time. It was once said that you could see why Jeffrey thought he should be Mayor of London because he could see most of it from his penthouse.

Jeffrey was unbelievably generous: with his time, and when a friend was in need. When a friend of mine was in some personal difficulty, he would also make a point of seeking them out at a function to check on their wellbeing. If a friend (or, in this case, my Dad) was star-struck and wanted an autograph or a photo with him, he would go one better and present them with a personally inscribed book. Nothing was too much for him. Gregarious to a fault, Jeffrey just loved people.

Yes he sometimes exaggerated his stories. What great story teller doesn't, from time to time? And what story teller sold more books over the past 50 years than Jeffrey Archer? He was the greatest encouragement imaginable for Conor Burns and me when, with the Iron Lady's active encouragement, we launched the Margaret Thatcher Centre in 2013. He delivered the inaugural Margaret Thatcher Lecture for us, and helped us raise hundreds of thousands of pounds as our auctioneer, not least at the Centennial Gala Dinner at Guildhall a year ago next week.

He was on the greatest of form at Guildhall, sat alongside Joan Collins and regaling us with stories from his life and hers that had us all crying with laughter. Yet again, he pulled his infamous stunt on two people bidding ever higher for the same unique prize by selling it to the successful bidder and then selling it too to the guy who came in second. Nobody even minded being suckered by Jeffrey Archer in this way because it was priced in and a privilege to be played by a master at his craft in this way.

The thing with Jeffrey is that he was always there: and it is hard to believe that he has left us. Only this week, he was doing a tour to celebrate the launch of his latest book and he sounded just so vibrant on The Spectator podcast with Michael Gove. You could tell the excitement that he truly felt, and the pride too, in his latest (and last) bestseller.

Loyal to the end to Margaret Thatcher, and to her successor, Sir John Major, Jeffrey Archer was a giant among pygmies. Flamboyant, gauche, funny, conspiratorial and naughty, he was the very best of company, no matter how flawed and imperfect he might have been at times. His wife, Mary, will be bereft and should be in all our thoughts now. But tonight, raise a glass to the great storyteller in the sky. He will already be up there pitching a follow-up to his latest bestseller, "Adam & Eve", to the man who created the pair of them in the first place. Rest in Peace, old friend.