Jeffrey Archer reveals his prostate cancer treatment left him impotent

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Tory grandee Jeffrey Archer has revealed that he has been left impotent by surgery he underwent to treat prostate cancer.

“You can still get the feeling, you can still get the urge, but you can’t do anything about it. Can’t do a thing,” Lord Archer told the Mail on Sunday.

The prolific author, 74, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013 after he had a routine medical check-up at the insistence of his wife, Mary.

Since being diagnosed, the peer and ex-convict has spoken publicly of his ordeal and urged other men to visit their GPs.

While the former MP was warned of the risk to his sex drive before his treatment, he continued with the operation because he did not want to die from the disease.

The operation took place at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, the world-renowned specialist teaching facility used by Cambridge University, in December 2013.

Lord Archer rose to prominence as a popular novelist and Tory MP, who became deputy chairman of the party in 1985, but was disgraced when he was jailed for perjury in 2001.

Since being released he has continued his career as a writer and is a bestselling author around the world and claims to have sold 270 million copies of his books.

Campaigners have praised Lord Archer for speaking openly about his experiences of prostate cancer and encouraging others to visit their doctor.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect men in the UK and, on average, 1 in 8 will have the disease at some point in their life. More than 40,000 men are diagnosed every year and every hour someone dies from the disease.

According to Prostate Cancer UK, 250,000 men are living with the disease across the country.