Lord Field, 79, who represented Birkenhead in parliament from 1979 to 2019, will become a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, joining the likes of Sir Elton John, JK Rowling and Sir Paul McCartney.

Lord Field, now a crossbench peer, has been a huge figure in national politics for more than four decades.

Praised for his tireless work on poverty and standing up for disabled people hit by benefit reforms, Lord Field also drew criticism for writing columns for The Sun newspaper and voting for both Theresa May's and Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

On receiving the honour, Lord Field said: "Well I'm very honoured to receive this acknowledgement, it's a terrific privilege considering the honour itself and what it represents.

"Following the work I've done it's a lovely thought from which to conclude this year."

He highlighted "important" issues he had campaigned to help stamp out over the past 12 months, including modern slavery.

Lord Field added: "It's only been the start sadly, but we've got committees and officials from both houses of parliament now looking at this issue and I hope this continues for years to come."

His career as an MP ended at the 2019 General Election after he stood for his own party against Labour and lost, following his decision to quit the party after 39 years as one of its MPs in August 2018, citing anti-semitism and bullying in the party.

The peer showed his eagerness to address the causes of poverty before he first won his Birkenhead seat in 1979.

In 1969, he became the director of the Child Poverty Action Group and led the Low Pay Unit from 1974-1980.

He served as welfare reform minister in Tony Blair's first government in 1997 with a remit to "think the unthinkable" and went on to chair the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

Lord Field remained in the post of welfare reform minister for little over a year following policy clashes with the Prime Minister and then-chancellor Gordon Brown.

He continued working on welfare reform issues after being dropped as a minister.

As chairman of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, he campaigned against the way Universal Credit was being rolled out, and had a number of colourful clashes, most notably with former BHS boss Sir Philip Green.

In October, Lord Field revealed that he was terminally ill and had spent time in a hospice.

During a debate on assisted dying in the House of Lords, a statement was read out on his behalf by Baroness Molly Meacher.

It confirmed that he was dying and added that his own experience and the experiences of colleagues have led him to change his mind on assisted dying and back a current bill that aims to enable adults who are terminally ill to be supported to end their own lives.

A section of the statement from Lord Field said: "I've just spent a period in a hospice and am not well enough to participate in today's debate. If I had been, I would have spoken strongly in favour.

"I changed my mind on assisted dying when an MP friend was dying of cancer and wanted to die early, before the full horror effects set in, but was denied this opportunity."