Ususally by sucking up to the political party in power at te time!

A little bit of plagiarism from the BBC website here: SIR: Anybody can recommend a British national for an honour, which consist of life peerages, KNIGHTHOODS, appointments to the Order of the British Empire and gallantry awards to servicemen and women and civilians. (You usually have to be really good at something, have done something really amazing, or make a really important contribution - to something. Academics get a lot of knighthoods, for instance) Nominations, sent either by government ministers or by members of the public, are divided into subject areas and assessed by eight committees comprising both senior civil servants and independent experts. Their assessments are passed to a selection committee that produces the list that is submitted to the Queen through the prime minister. The Queen formally approves the list of recipients. The honours are published in the official Crown newspaper, the London Gazette. Private nominations, made by individuals or by representatives of organisations to the Cabinet Office, traditionally make up about a quarter of all recommendations. Honorary awards for foreign nationals are recommended by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Orders for chivalry are made after a personal decision by the Queen. LORD: You can buy the title Lord online for a couple of hundred quid =) Which, isn't that surprising seeing as the quickest way to become a "real" Lord is to buy your way in too and give all your money to Mr Brown and Co.

Make a large donation to the major political parties.

Hand over an obscene amount of dirty cash to the politicians.