Political Control

Leader of the Council

Conservative

Labour

Liberal

Liberal Democrat

SDP-Liberal Alliance

Political Control

Between 1974 and 1981, Kent county council was comprised of 103 councillors, 17 of which were from Medway, meaning a party needed at least 52 members for an overall majority. Between 1981 and 1998, the county elected 99 councillors, 15 of which were from Medway, meaning a party needed at least 50 members for an overall majority.

The graphic below includes all county councillors, but only members for areas now covered by Medway council are included on this website.

	Control of the Council	From	To
	Conservative	April 1974	May 1993
	No overall control	May 1993	May 1997
	Conservative	May 1997	Present

Although the borough of Gillingham and the city of Rochester-upon-Medway were removed from the control of Kent county council in 1998, the council continues to represent the rest of the county. Election results and political control of the council are not recorded on Medway Elects from 1998 onwards.

Leader of the Council

	Leader	From	To
	Sir John Grugeon DL	Apr 1974	1982
	Bobby Neame CBE DL	1982	1984
	Tony Hart CBE	1984	1992
	Brenda Trench	1992	May 1993
	John Ovenden	May 1993	May 1997
	The Rt Hon. Sandy Bruce-Lockhart OBE	May 1997	Oct 2005
	Sir Paul Carter CBE	Oct 2005	Oct 2019
	Roger Gough	Oct 2019	Present

Conservative

All dates shown reflect unbroken terms of office as Conservative members for areas now covered by Medway council.

Labour

All dates shown reflect unbroken terms of office as Labour members for areas now covered by Medway council.

Liberal

All dates shown reflect unbroken terms of office as Liberal members for areas now covered by Medway council.

Liberal Democrat

All dates shown reflect unbroken terms of office as Liberal Democrat members for areas now covered by Medway council.

SDP-Liberal Alliance

All dates shown reflect unbroken terms of office as SDP-Liberal Alliance members for areas now covered by Medway council.