Andy Street’s battle cry sounds at first like defiance in the face of a violent disciplinarian who has arrived to dish out a flogging. Then it becomes clear that he is only trying to establish that he is his own man, free of the mechanisms that control his party’s MPs. “Nobody whips me!” he says. “I do exactly what I want.”
The puckish mayor of the West Midlands is seeking to defy political gravity and win a third term on May 2. To do so, he is betting hard on convincing voters that, unlike his Tory colleagues at Westminster, he is not a creature controlled by the deeply unpopular government.
As the local elections approach, all eyes are on the West Midlands and the mayoral race in the Tees Valley, where his fellow Tory Ben Houchen has a large majority. If these two mayoral bastions should fall, there may be new and desperate calls to replace Rishi Sunak before the general election.
Street, the former managing director of John Lewis, became the first elected mayor of the West Midlands, which includes Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry, in 2017, beating Labour by a whisker. He increased the margin of victory in 2021. Can he save his own political career, and perhaps prolong that of his prime minister, by avoiding being swept away in the expected avalanche of local election losses?
“I believe we can. Of course, it’s not helpful that the background is that we’re 20 points down in the national polls and I will be the Conservative candidate,” says Street. “But the reason I still believe it’s doable is that citizens across this region know that this is about electing an individual to be their leader.”
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Boris Johnson won in the Labour stronghold of London against the polls in 2012. “And you could even say that the last two times when I won, no one expected it. In mayoral elections people understand it is different to a national popularity contest between main parties.” A poll found that a majority would vote on “personal choice” not party grounds in the election, and two thirds may name Street as their mayor.
He is certainly recognised as we walk around the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, where some scenes from Peaky Blinders were filmed. People shake his hand, say hello and take pictures on their phones of him having his photograph taken for The Times, bantering about the way he is posing. A small, slight, figure he is immaculately turned out in a wool suit, made by a local tailor, and oxblood brogues, in which he sets off at a brisk clip that even Sunak in his Adidas Sambas might fail to match.
If he does win, might the Conservatives have a glimmer of hope for the general election? “I hope people will say, ‘let’s look at how he’s won and why’. And then the Conservative Party may even learn from it. Now, it might be premature to say that because I might not win. But let’s be clear: if one does, one has got to look back and say, how has it been achieved? It’s a very young, diverse, urban area of the country, not necessarily a natural hunting ground. It will say that a very moderate, inclusive and tolerant brand of Conservatism won through.”
Not that you will easily find the word “Conservative” on his Twitter bio or campaign website, which has a green colour scheme. I finally discovered a mention when I clicked through to the fundraising page. Is he misleading people?
“It’s exactly the same as it’s always been,” he says of his very discreet political branding. When he agreed with Theresa May that he would quit John Lewis and try politics, the deal was that he would do it his way, not the CCHQ way, even though he is funded mostly by the party.
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Would he rather it didn’t say “Conservative” next to his name on the ballot papers? “I’m very proud to have been a Conservative for 40 years. That in no way is ever disguised. It doesn’t mean you agree with everything the current Conservative government does. People expect their mayor to be fiercely independent, to be [about] place before party. Mayoral politics is a bit different to the party system in Westminster, where you’re part of a team, you’re whipped by the government.”
Where he most violently disagreed with Sunak was on the decision last year to scrap the northern leg of the HS2 rail scheme, so that it will now terminate in Birmingham and no longer run to Manchester. “I was very, very cross about it because I had worked for over a decade for the prospect of Birmingham being the centre of the HS2 piece and I still believe that the country needs that North-South connectivity.”
The decision will affect the vaunted “levelling up” agenda. “A set-back, no question.” But he denies that levelling up has become an empty slogan. “It’s a massive project. It will take many years to deliver given it’s 50 years of performance we’re trying to reverse.”
• Tale of two mayors set to be crucial for Tories
He considered resigning at the Tory party conference when the HS2 decision was announced, he says. “Of course I did.” How close did he come to quitting? “Not that close.” He stayed to devise an alternative connectivity plan involving private financing, which he is working on with Andy Burnham, the elected Labour mayor of Greater Manchester.
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They co-operated during the pandemic and on education issues with Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London. Street and Burnham appeared together on Alastair Campbell and Rory Stuart’s podcast on leadership, which turned into a love-in. Street said that Burnham had superb political skills and Burnham lavished praise on Street, telling him: “I don’t think I’ve met many people who are more decent and caring and compassionate than you. You are absolutely rooted in your place and I’ve enjoyed working with you.”
Street looks slightly embarrassed when I read this back to him. “That’s very sweet of him. He said something much, much more generous, so I felt guilty about it, actually. He, like me, has put party politics aside and we have worked together.”
If he lived in Manchester could he see himself voting for Burnham? He seems genuinely unclear how to answer a question tribal Tories wouldn’t hesitate over, explaining that he won’t say “yes” because he hasn’t thought about the specific issues in Manchester. “I’d have a look at the evidence, of course.”
Could he work with Keir Starmer? “Let’s be clear. I don’t want to be in that scenario. But the answer is yes. I am sufficiently much a believer in the integrity of the system to believe that a fair-minded Labour government would work with Conservative mayors.”
In his election campaign he makes a very bold claim that the West Midlands’ rate of economic growth can overtake London’s by 2030. He boasts about investment won for the region, bringing the 2022 Commonwealth Games to Birmingham and the pace of housebuilding. He claims he was in “lockstep” with the city council on the Games, and with the local authorities in the combined authority (which he chairs) on big investment decisions.
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But he thinks it will benefit him politically on May 2 that Birmingham council effectively went bankrupt last year. “The primary responsibility of the person leading an authority is, of course, sound financial management. Birmingham has gone bust through their own financial mismanagement.”
Local Labour council leaders released a letter last month saying he was using the crisis for political gain and that they had lost confidence in him. Street says the letter itself is election politics.
His Labour opponent is Richard Parker, an accountant and former partner at the auditor PwC. The local Labour party has produced an advert showing Street drinking beer with Boris Johnson and hanging out with the three other prime ministers he has seen during his two terms.
He backed Liz Truss in the 2022 leadership contest. What on earth was he thinking? “She clearly now, with hindsight, did not have the skills to be prime minister. She did have some ideas that will be proven to be correct about investing in emerging technology, driving the growth rate, her commitment to the West Midlands on a number of critical things like HS2. She also did not have the capability of delivering them.”
His favourite of the four PMs he has worked with is May. “A woman of incredible integrity and principles. I see in her a value set that is closest to mine.” He is “a traditional Tory” in a party that has shifted. “Those around me might change, but I have not changed.”
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Street, 60, grew up in Solihull and after studying politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Oxford, he wanted to be a social worker but couldn’t get a job and so joined John Lewis, rising through the ranks until he ran the company. On his first day as mayor he visited a homelessness charity, and says that by working “hand in glove” with the authorities in the region the number of rough sleepers has been substantially reduced since before the pandemic. Some of the language in the Criminal Justice Bill that would criminalise so-called “nuisance” rough sleepers for things such as how they smell is “inapproriate”, he says. “Rough sleeping is the most serious form of exclusion. There’s still an enormous amount to be done, but it has to be done with real compassion. I do not believe the government-proposed legislation is that.”
When he left John Lewis it was one of the country’s best-loved brands, but the company has had a challenging time recently. He hasn’t forgiven the chain for closing his local store, at Birmingham New Street station. This week it was announced that Jason Tarry, a former Tesco boss, will take over as chairman from Dame Sharon White, who had no previous retail experience. Street is delighted to see a retailer back at the helm. “Hallelujah!”
I ask about the story consuming the political world. Has he ever been the target of a texting honeytrap? “No! Never! Good grief!” He makes light of the idea. “It would be quite flattering, actually, to be asked.” He is “bewildered”, he says, that a target would send back an intimate picture of themselves. “It’s beyond me.”
Street has an apartment in Birmingham and shares a house in Wales with Michael Fabricant, the veteran Tory MP for Lichfield and possessor of the most dazzling blond thatch in parliament, who is his old friend. Street was a strong Remainer who believes that Brexit hit West Midlands exporters hard. Fabricant, who is working as his campaign driver today, was a staunch Brexiteer, and I suggest that they can’t exactly agree on everything. “Nothing!” Street says happily.
If he wins a third term as mayor, and if the Tories are defeated at the general election, Street will be the most powerful elected Tory in the country. Inevitably there will be speculation that he might want to go to Westminster. “I have no intention [of doing so]. It would have been quite natural to do two terms here and then say, ‘I’ll go to Westminster now’. But it wasn’t what I wanted to do. There are still really deep-seated issues to address here. I was determined to fight a tough election and demonstrate that my brand of Conservatism is the way forward.”
Andrew John Street
Curriculum vitae
Born June 11, 1963 Educated King Edward’s School, Edgbaston; Keble College, University of Oxford
Career Started working at the John Lewis Partnership in 1985 as a trainee at Brent Cross. Became managing director of John Lewis in Milton Keynes in 1993. In 2000 he became supply chain director and then in 2002 director of personnel. Was promoted to managing director of the company in 2007. Resigned from his position at John Lewis in 2016 to stand as the Conservative candidate for mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority. He was elected in 2017 and again in 2021.
Quick fire
True blue Tory or Cino (Conservative in name only) Traditional Tory
Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak? I’m not answering that
Andy Burnham or Sadiq Khan? Andy Burnham. I work a lot more with him.
Peaky Blinders or Crossroads? Peaky Blinders
Black Sabbath or Slade? Black Sabbath,
Aston Villa or Birmingham City? Villa
Waitrose or Sainsbury’s? Waitrose Leather lace-ups or Adidas Sambas? Leather lace-ups
