Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare is among the frontrunners to be the Conservative candidate in the contest to become the new mayor of London.

A former Conservative MP, Jeffrey Archer was awarded a life peerage in 1992.

His political career so far has included sitting on the Greater London Council, representing Louth as an MP and serving as deputy chairman for the Tory party between 1985 and 1986.

The Conservative candidate for mayor of London will be chosen through the one-member, one-vote system with no initial vetting.

Lord Archer has always been a flamboyant party favourite but his life and works outside Westminster have attracted as much interest as his parliamentary career.

He has written a dozen novels and plays, including Kane and Abel, First Among Equals, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and The Prodigal Daughter.

Lord Archer's 1999 Who's Who entry says under education "by my wife since leaving Wellington School". He went to Oxford where he achieved an athletics blue. He ran for Great Britain, but the Who's Who entry adds "never fast enough".

Recently, Lord Archer has put forward a backbench bill proposing to put England and Scotland in different time zones.

He wants to give the new parliaments in Scotland and Wales the power to set their own time.

The Scottish Parliament could decide to keep the present system while the Welsh Assembly and English MPs at Westminster could alter their clocks.

Lord Archer has also announced he is selling his extensive collection of works by Andy Warhol.