Express & Star

West Midlands Metro Mayor: Is this the man who will lead the region?

Andy Street's lips are sealed. He won't reveal the one thing everyone wants to know.

Published

"I can't tell you that, I'm sorry. It's the one question I will refuse to answer otherwise I will be in big, big trouble," laughs the John Lewis managing director.

He is speaking about, of course, his company's highly-anticipated Christmas advert.

What he is happy to speak about, however, is his own political ambitions.

The proud Brummie is this week hoping to be selected as the Conservative candidate for the newly-created West Midlands Metro Mayor who will be elected next May.

If successful in getting the party nomination on Thursday he will immediately resign from the retail giant after 30 years.

But why take the risk and leave behind a high-flying job with one of Britain's most-loved companies?

He said: "I'm giving up a job I have loved for many years, but now is the time to to do something a bit different. But as I have said to my John Lewis partners, I would not have left for anything else other than this. Why this? Because I genuinely believe this is a brilliant opportunity for our region. I'm sure the government wants to back this region and the devolution deal is a great starting point."

Growing up in Northfield, Mr Street went to King Edwards School in Edgbaston before going to Oxford University.

From there he joined John Lewis on its graduate scheme, having turned down Marks & Spencer, and has moved through the ranks of Britain's biggest employee-owned company to become managing director for the past eight years.

In that time he oversaw a 50 per cent increase in gross sales to more than £4.4bn, and a doubling in the number of stores and the growth of the company's online business.

For the past five years he has been chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, the body responsible for economic growth and attracting investment in the second city as well as Cannock Chase and Lichfield.

Andy Street says he will step down from John Lewis if he is successful

Mr Street, aged 53, added: "I feel I do have the skills that are necessary to fulfil the mayor's role. If you look at my work job, or how I led the Local Enterprise Partnership, I think I have demonstrated I have the ability to carry out this role.

"The reason I am so passionate is because I grew up here and I am so proud of the place, I'm a proud Brummie – I hope I'm allowed to say that in Wolverhampton – but I have also seen through the 80s and 90s how the relative performance fell behind and it was not fulfilling its potential. What we tried to do over the last five years is try to meet that potential, you can see the cranes up over Wolverhampton and how things are beginning to improve."

The mayor will chair the newly-created West Midlands Combined Authority which will take over powers from the government in transport, economic growth, housing, and mental health with £36 million funding guaranteed each year for the next three decades and oversee £8 billion worth of investment covering the Black Country, Birmingham, Coventry, and Solihull.

It is part of the devolution deal struck up between local authorities and former Chancellor George Osborne.

It will be a big job – and an important one.

But how will the 'proud Brummie' protect and promote the very different needs of the Black Country?

"The first thing I will say is that across the three Local Enterprise Partnerships in the region – Black Country, Birmingham and Solihull, and Coventry – we have worked incredibly closely together and a lot of the things that have been achieved have come from that working together. I hope people will understand the need of that team work and then if we look at the devolution deal there are some great things in it for the Black Country such as the metro extension to Brierley Hill which is absolutely critical, and the funds for turning brownfield sites into housing. I was part of the team that delivered that devolution deal which will be good for the Black Country.

"I am crystal clear. The combined authority is called the West Midlands Combined Authority because that is what it is. There are seven boroughs and they have all got to play their role. The critical point is that even a city the size of Birmingham cannot do it on its own. We need the whole of the West Midlands together to be competing with the likes of Boston, areas in Germany, France, and think of ourselves as an economic region. So I can look you in the eye and say Wolverhampton is just as important as Coventry, as Solihull or Birmingham. I have the record of working with all areas."

In addition to his job at the helm of John Lewis and the business community in the second city, Mr Street he has been lead non-executive director for the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as a member of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group.

Outside of work, he is passionate about the arts, particularly in the West Midlands. He is vice-chairman of Performances Birmingham Limited, which is responsible for running the City's Symphony and Town Halls.

In June 2015, he was awarded the CBE for services to the national economy and was named the 'Most Admired Leader' of the year by business magazine, Management Today in 2014. He also loves nothing more than walking in the Welsh mountains.

But what is his vision as West Midlands Mayor?

"Fifty years ago the West Midlands as a whole was the wealthiest place in Britain. That slipped. We have got to restore our economic success. But that on its own is not enough. We need to ensure that every citizen feels they share in that wealth and that is exactly what Theresa May said on the steps of Downing Street and that is my aim – to take the West Midlands back to the economic and social success story it used to be, and I see absolutely no reason why we cannot do that."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.