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00:00Roger, first of all, just lost your seat. What's your reaction to that?
00:04Clearly it is deeply disappointing. Some of these are communities that I've represented for 20 years
00:10and sought to do so to the best of my ability. And none of us likes losing elections.
00:16Having said which, the scale, I think, of what's happening, not just across this county,
00:22but also across the country, does rather put it all into perspective.
00:25So personally, I'm disappointed. I would like to go on representing that division,
00:31but that was not to be. And I think there's clearly something, as I say, much, much bigger than any of us going on.
00:38Perhaps even in the country. What has gone wrong this year?
00:42Well, I think overall, the Conservative Party is still paying the price heavily for what happened when we were in government nationally,
00:49and particularly in 2021, 2022. I think that broke a lot of the bond between us and many of our voters,
00:56and I don't think that's ever been restored. And there is a wider sense of disenchantment by many people
01:05with established politics, with the two traditional governing parties.
01:10And I think that has played a very, very big part in what has happened.
01:16So, you know, now reform are clearly going to be the majority party on Kent County Council,
01:21and we will see what they seek to make of it.
01:23It's not wholly clear from their statements during the campaign as to what that will amount to,
01:30but we'll have to see.
01:31Where do you go from here? What's next for yourself, Roger?
01:34I think I might actually enjoy the fact that this is an end to a period of 60-hour weeks,
01:39which has been the case for basically the last five and a half years.
01:43And then I'll look to my next set of options, and I think there are a few things there,
01:48but let me work on that. It is a time, clearly, to start a new chapter in life.
01:54What about for the Conservatives? Where do they go locally here in Kent?
01:57Because almost an entire wipeout, it seems, today.
02:00Yeah, I mean, we will have to see which of our members have been returned to the County Council,
02:04and it'll be clearly for them, working with the Conservative Party more generally,
02:09to set a direction for the Conservatives in Kent.
02:14But I think that's also much, in many ways, a part of the much wider question
02:20of the direction for the Conservatives nationally,
02:22and that's clearly something which the party's going to have to reflect on quite a bit.
02:25What's your message to reform?
02:27It seems like they're on trajectory to get a majority today.
02:30What would your message be to whoever is the next Council Leader of Kent County Council?
02:34Well, whoever is the next Leader, I wish them well,
02:37and it is a tremendous privilege to do that job.
02:40Today I've enjoyed, well, it's overdoing it sometimes, it's been pretty tough,
02:45but it is an extraordinarily demanding and rewarding role,
02:48and I'm delighted that I had the chance to do it for a bit over five and a half years,
02:52and I wish them very well in it.
02:54I hope that in taking office, not just the Leader, but their leadership group,
03:00actually takes the issues that confront Kent as a council seriously.
03:05I have to say that I did not see any evidence of that in what they put out during the campaign.
03:10Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised, but I think it is, what I would say is,
03:15this is a great county, it is a great council,
03:18there is a tremendous responsibility in leading it.
03:22I wish them well, and I hope they live up to that responsibility.
03:25Are you worried about Reform UK?
03:27I know you've talked quite strongly about them in the past.
03:30Are you worried about what they could be like in office?
03:32Well, we will have to see on that.
03:35What I am concerned about, and I'm not saying anything I haven't said before,
03:38is that, as I say, I see no sign that they are working to generate serious constructive solutions
03:45to the issues that the county faces,
03:48and I think that's probably true of a number of national issues as well.
03:51So they've campaigned on slogans, and they will now have to deliver something different.
03:56So we will have to see.
03:58You know, I think it is unfair to make a judgment on how people will be in office
04:03when we don't even know, for instance, who their leader will be.
04:06But I must say that certainly what we've seen in terms of the nature of the campaign fought,
04:11the way in which the issues facing Kent and Kent County Council were confronted,
04:16or frankly not confronted, in that does give me cause for concern.