FORMER Thornbury and Yate MP Steve Webb has joked he is looking forward to “rubbing shoulders” with Team GB after receiving a knighthood in the New Year's honours list.

Mr Webb, 51, who lives with his family in Olveston, receives the honour in the "for political and public service" following his long service within the Liberal Democrats, which saw him serve as MP for almost 18 years, first for Northavon and then for Thornbury and Yate.

He also served as Minister of State for Pensions in the coalition government from 2010 to 2015.

Speaking to the Gazette, Me Webb said: “It is such a wonderful piece of news when you get it that you want to tell everyone, but the only problem was that we had to sit on it all that time!”

“They give you some advance warning so my wife Helen and I have known since about mid-November, but we had to keep it a secret.

“We had to keep everyone in the dark - our friends, both of our children and even my parents when they came down for Christmas - It wasn’t until New Years that we actually told them.”

Mr Webb said that he hoped his wife Helen, and children Charlotte and Dominic will be able to attend the ceremony later in the year and that with it being an Olympic year, and this year’s list feature many of the Team GB heroes from Rio, he joked that he would do his best no to be distracted.

“I have no idea whether I would be rubbing shoulders with Andy Murray and Mo Farah at the ceremony, but I will be taking every opportunity to get their autograph if I am!”

Making the point that the title would be “very much used for special occasions only”, he said it would take some getting used to, and described how he was “taken aback” when he received a beautiful handwritten congratulatory letter from the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Dame Janet Trotter, addressed to “The Right Hon. Sir Steven Webb.”

“It seems odd when it lands on your doorstep, when I started almost 20 years ago, I never would have thought this kind of thing would happen to me – it is going to take a while to get used to.

He added: “Having so many nice messages from people you help and people you haven’t seen in a long time is, in a way, nicer than the honour itself. It is nice to see that it means a lot to other people too.

“To me, this is a shared honour, I am endlessly grateful for having the opportunity to serve the people in our area as their MP for so long, and grateful to all the voters, my campaigning teams and my colleagues for their support.”

After losing his seat to Luke Hall in the 2015 general election, Mr Webb has entered the private sector, working as policy and external communications for financial services mutual Royal London.

“It is nice to still work in an area I know and have experience in,” he said.

“Plus I have had the pleasure of rediscovering what weekends are, rather than filling them with the 24/7 timetable of meetings, red ministerial boxes and knocking on doors. In a way I am slowly getting my life back.”