He may have risen to the highest office in the land but John Major soon found out that his officials were not afraid to pick him up on the finer points of his speaking style, according to newly released official papers.

Files released by the National Archives include a handwritten note from his principal private secretary Andrew Turnbull dated January 25 1991, upbraiding the new prime minister for his use of "cliches" and "redundant" phrases in his speeches.

After acknowledging that he was "at risk of having a cushion thrown at me" for his pains, Mr (now Lord) Turnbull begins gently enough saying Mr Major's words were for the most part "admirably clear".

"The grammar is excellent, sentences having subject, verb, object etc. Your transcripts read as almost perfect prose. Most other people have a speaking style which comes out horribly in print," he wrote.

But he then picks up on an observation by the former Conservative MP and commentator Matthew Parris who noted his tendency "to add words and phrases which are redundant, or worse cliches".

He wrote: "To illustrate this I have compared the text of your first Gulf speech with the version as delivered. I was struck by the following:

"1. Use of 'self-evident'. This is very common. But if something is self-evident it can simply be stated.

"2. Use of 'clear' with another adverb which simply expresses degrees of clearness eg. 'crystal' clear, 'entirely', 'absolutely'.

"3. Duplicating adjectives 'complete and full', 'crudely and brutally', 'doubt and hesitant'."

He then ends: "I hope you do not object to my making these observations."

Mr Major, who had only been in office for two months, responds, perhaps surprisingly mildly, saying: "Many thanks - I don't have a cushion to hand! You are right - I am too verbose sometimes, with unnecessary addition.

"I'll try desist. But Matthew I thought, was an old friend and went over the top. But, I'll watch it - and thanks."