Liam Byrne MP with Richard Parker, the new mayor of the West Midlands
He was supposed to be a beacon of hope for Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party . Across the country, this week's local elections, with a few exceptions, provided scant cause for celebration — especially as the general election approaches. But in the West Midlands the chances of Andy Street's re-election as the region's mayor were encouraging. If not quite a beacon, then at least a flicker.
However, after an unusually dramatic day at the International Conference Center in Birmingham, the relatively modest Labor candidate Richard Parker succeeded in unseating Street, seven years and two terms after taking over as mayor of the heartland of Britain. “Too close to call” is a political cliché that is often heard and often uttered out of blind optimism during election counting. In this case it was absolutely true. The final result was 225,590 to 224,082, giving the Labor candidate a victory by 1,508 votes.
Whenever he was seen in the halls of Birmingham, even before his shock victory, Mr Parker looked as if he could hardly believe it. he held hands in prayer and walked with nervous energy. Street, who chimed in with “We’ll see!” reporters earlier that day, was in a private room in the bowels of the building, but must have felt even less trusting. And 120 miles away in Westminster, Rishi Sunak must be speechless.
The message to the Prime Minister was clear. Mr Sunak and Mr Street have never been the best of friends, but if the highly rated and ultra-slick mayor — a golden boy for many Conservatives who was seen as an example of how to win in the heart of the Labor Party — could be as vulnerable on As With all the other ousted Conservative incumbents across the country, the challenge facing the party in the general election is even greater than first thought. .jpg» /> Andy Street has been defeated in the West Midlands mayoral election. Photo: Anthony Devlin/Getty
By 6pm, when a recount was ordered in Coventry, one of the seven boroughs that make up the West Midlands Combined Authority, people of all political persuasions were wondering how an election that just 24 hours earlier had looked like a sure victory for the Street had ended up on a knife's edge .
With his victory, Parker, a former public finance accountant and PwC partner, challenged not only Street's apparent popularity, but also persistent accusations made by Conservative MP Gary Sambrook (and vigorously denied by a Labor politician) that he had wrongly claimed to live in area to get on the ballot. The feat also contradicted suggestions that Labour's vote in the region collapsed due to anger in the Muslim community over Sir Keir Starmer's handling of the conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
His success now raises unexpected questions about the future of Street's political career, which has so far been on a steady and controlled rise. The Street, the man who always fulfills his duties, the first and the last, who is so in control of everything that the door in his office is hardly closed without his permission, experienced an amazing shock.
«Andy Street has shown that Conservatives in government actually do something for the people they represent,» Andrew Mitchell, undersecretary for foreign affairs and MP for Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, told the BBC as he awaited signs of life from the Coun. . He, Mitchell insisted, «bucked the trend.» It was proof that the government still viewed Street the same way it did seven years ago: as a role model for the rest of the party. Now that he has just followed the trend, he can no longer claim this.
Mr Street, 60, is not a native of the West Midlands, but he is quite good. When he was just a few months old, his family (he has a brother and a sister) moved from Banbury in Oxfordshire to the Northfield area of Birmingham. His father was a metallurgist; his mother worked as a laboratory assistant in a hospital. At Keble College, Oxford, he studied politics, philosophy and economics, became president of the University Conservative Association and admired Margaret Thatcher — although only to a certain extent.
Street has won two previous elections, in 2017 and 2021. Photo: Anthony Devlin/Getty
“I felt that economic success had to be balanced by much more socially inclusive policies, and I don’t believe she has achieved that,” he once told The Telegraph. He applied to be a social worker but was turned down by Birmingham City Council. Instead, he joined John Lewis in 1985. He initially sold vacuum cleaners, but became managing director in 2007.
Nine years later, having achieved a 50% increase in sales and a doubling of the number of stores, he abruptly quit his £1m-a-year position, announcing he was running to become the first mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority. In announcing his intentions, he insisted that the work «will require leadership from someone who has a proven track record, can bring people together and can represent us with passion.» This election must transcend traditional political loyalties, and I look forward to gaining voter support for the work ahead.»
That Mr. Street had experience as a merchant could hardly be of no use in politics. A man with a frenetic, restless energy, bolstered by regular half-marathons, his image—the smile and slim blue suit reminiscent of the «my door is always open» ethos, the approachable performing atmosphere he continues to maintain—has been as media-friendly as can be. how they come. Liam Byrne MP, his Labor opponent in the 2021 mayoral election, was happy to use the line that Street is «never deliberately photographed» but many politicians could still learn from his savvy.
< p>His personal statement had two main thrusts: he was not a professional politician and he was not afraid to stand up to the government. His supporters were still repeating those words last week. “He is a proven successful businessman, not just a professional politician, and people respect that. He is a very effective mayor who just gets on with his job and local people, ignoring the national picture,” John Murray, a Conservative councilor from Walsall, told The Telegraph.
He, of course, ignores the national picture. It has been noted that Mr Street, angered by Mr Sunak's refusal to scrap HS2 North and acutely aware of the party's reputation locally, is the only metro mayor who has not mentioned his party allegiance in his X (formerly Twitter) bio . Even his campaign posters had a distinct emerald hue, prompting commentators on social media to repeatedly joke: “I didn’t know you were running for the Green Party?”
Asked whether the latter point meant distancing himself from the government, as Mr. Street is often accused of, Colonel Murray simply shrugged. «Well, he doesn't need to mention the government much, but there should be more politicians willing to stand up to the national party.» Street was never going to trust the government if he won; now he has to blame the government for his loss.
Mayor overthrown, seven years and two terms after he took over self control. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty
Both of Street's mayoral victories in 2017 and 2021 were impressive enough to suggest that his separation from government was once quite beneficial. From the construction of new tram stations and three new railway stations; a target of building 15,257 new homes each year; and Birmingham's bid to host the Invictus Games in 2027, his promises for the upcoming third term again focused on transport, housing and developing the region internationally.
His personal popularity and obvious competence in a historically red-hot area meant that Conservative MPs respected him. He clearly believed that he could teach them something too. In 2021, he wrote a column in a national newspaper headlined: “What Conservatives can learn from my Red Wall victory: from keeping promises to preventing division.” In one survey of West Midlands locals, 65 per cent of respondents could name the mayor, while 45 per cent could name their MP. Tellingly, another poll asked whether West Midlands residents could name a single politician in its seven years. Hardly 10 percent can do it.
Street's ambitions were always limited, or so he insisted. All he wants, he would tell anyone who believes he should one day seek higher office, is to be re-elected as mayor.
“The job is not done,” was his re-election . election message this year, delivered again and again as he criss-crossed the West Midlands on the campaign trail. Well, it's done, and one of Tory's only bright spots has been extinguished. In Birmingham, all Street could do was ask how this could happen.
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