John Major joins Mayflower as director

THE FORMER prime minister John Major yesterday took up his first UK directorship since leaving office by joining the board of the car components and bus group Mayflower.

Mr Major, who remains MP for Huntingdon, will take up the post as non- executive director with Mayflower on 1 January. A spokeswoman for Mr Major said the Committee for Parliamentary Privileges had approved the appointment even though its authorisation had not been necessary.

Mr Major is already a director of two US companies, Emerson Electric and the Washington-based fund management group Carlyle. But his spokeswoman said he had deliberately imposed a two-year moratorium on joining the board of any UK company.

Rupert Hambro, the chairman of Mayflower, said Mr Major's experience would be particularly beneficial in helping the group to expand in specialist engineering markets around the world. Mr Major described Mayflower as "a classic illustration of how good British companies can be", and said he was looking forward to helping it grow internationally.

Formed 10 years ago, Mayflower has become a leading supplier of body panels to Rover, Land Rover and Rolls-Royce and last year acquired the bus and fire-engine manufacturer Dennis for pounds 269m.