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Knighthood for former mayor and retail chief Andy Street

Sir Andy spent seven years as the West Midlands first directly elected major and has been honoured for his public service

Former West Midlands Mayor and John Lewis MD Andy Street has been knighted in the New Year Honours(Image: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The former mayor of the West Midlands and the man who brought John Lewis to Birmingham has been given a knighthood.

Andy Street served seven years as the first directly elected mayor of the region following the formation of the West Midlands Combined Authority until he was defeated in May's election by Richard Parker.

He has been given a knighthood in the New Year Honours list for public service.

Sir Andy said he had only been "the front man" and the honour was "an accolade for the people in the West Midlands who made a success of the combined authority and the mayoralty".

He added: "Behind it lies a huge endeavour to set this up from scratch and make it the success that it is. It was a huge honour to be able to do that on behalf of citizens across the West Midlands."

Mr Street, 61, was born in Oxfordshire and attended King Edward's School in Birmingham.

He joined department store chain John Lewis in 1985 after graduating from University of Oxford and worked his way up the corporate ladder to become managing director in 2007.