John Major has revealed details of the behind-the-scenes lobbying that goes on by people seeking to gain honours.

Giving evidence to the Commons public administration committee, the former prime minister also said the time had come to review the workings of the honours system.

The MPs were told that failing to give an honour to those who made clear they expected them could sometimes provoke a backlash.

"Many people keep their frustrated ambitions to themselves, others, perhaps with greater expectations, tend not to," Major said.

The former Conservative leader added that he "quite regularly" received personal representations from public figures who felt they could "be of greater service to me".

Describing the lobbying as "tedious", Major added that it was "quite prevalent".

He went on to describe the "powerful representations" made by some people.

"People would become hugely available to help beyond any reasonable expectation and one suspected why that was since they hadn't been available to help before one was in a position to look at the honours list," said Major.

"Others would arrange for intermediaries to approach you. 'Have you seen the splendid work 'X' has done? In my mind 'X' rather retreated down the list of likely candidates when I heard that."

Major also said that he had no personal wish to become a knight or a peer, having retired from frontline politics.

"I have left politics, I'm out of politics. I have moved on, so I'm not going to the House of Lords," he said.