“A lot of people won't be able to tell you who is actually running the local authority”

What Steven asked Cllr Gary Hackwell, the newly elected Deputy Leader of the Medway Conservative Group

Cllr Gary Hackwell is the third deputy leader of the Medway Conservative Group this year following the resignation of Cllr Elizabeth Turpin and the promotion of Cllr George Perfect. Steven met with Gary at Wetherspoons in Rainham to discuss what led to him joining the Conservatives, what makes a good leader, and the fallout from the General Election.

Cllr Gary Hackwell

Where were you born?
I was born in Surrey. My parents were living in South London at the time, but I moved here when I was one.

What brought you to the Medway Towns?
My mother's parents were from Maidstone. My family was from Maidstone, so they moved nearer back. My grandfather was up in London at the time, but he got a job at the bakeries in Maidstone. My parents moved to Wigmore, which was a bit cheaper, I would imagine, than Maidstone at the time in the early 60s.

What jobs did your parents do growing up?
My dad was a buyer, and my mother was a secretary.

How did you find school?
I didn't mind school. I wouldn't say it was my favourite place, but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed playing sports, and it wasn't a bad time in my life.

Did you stay on for sixth form?
No, I didn't. I couldn't wait to earn money is the honest answer. I left and got a four-year technician apprenticeship.

What was your first full-time job?
An estate agent, believe it or not. I left school and became an estate agent. It was for about three months, and then I ended up in my internship in engineering.

What attracted you and then disinterested you in being an estate agent?
I was quite attracted to being an estate agent. I thought that was something I could build a career in. But my mother persuaded me that I ought to get a proper trade. I thought I'd go and do that, get a trade and I'd still be fairly young, but I never left.

What was your official occupation when you retired?
I was a production control and logistics manager.

What does that mean?
(laughs) That's quite a difficult one. Basically, production control and logistics is something that controls everything, they decide what suppliers give you every week, what you deliver to the customers, and you tell manufacturing what to make. You also have the responsibility of making sure the transport is available to bring the stuff in, and the transport is available to deliver to the customers. It's almost like the conductor of the factory. You are the man with the baton telling everybody what to do.

What additional roles, paid or unpaid, do you do?
Apart from the council, the only unpaid role I do is volunteer for the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards scheme for going on 35 years. When the council decided not to invest in that anymore, even though I'd been a volunteer for the people that worked for the council, a few friends and I set up a charity. I'm a trustee and a treasurer for that charity and we continued that provision for young people in Medway so they could carry on.

What charity is that?
It's Medway Open Award Centre. It's based at The Strand. We rent the building from the council, and we've been operating it out there as a charity for about eight years now.

What political parties have you been a member of?
Only the Conservatives.

When did you join?
About 2015, so fairly recently.

Was there an event or a particular reason?
I've always voted for Conservatives. I've always been a fan. I did contemplate joining in 1997, but I found I was too busy at work and with a young family at that point in time. I retired in 2016, and so I joined in 2015 with the vision to become more active in the party and get involved in politics once I retire.

Who has been the best leader of the party in that time?
Yeah, I'm still a Boris fan, I think. From 2015, we had Cameron sort of giving up. Theresa May wasn't very good. Boris was a charismatic character. I don't say much about Truss. Rishi was a technician at what he did, but I'm not sure he had any charisma to be a leader of a political party.

Was joining in 2015 due to the Brexit debate, or was that coincidental?
No, I think it was coincidental. I was already planning to retire in 2015 and I was looking for something to get more involved with in my life. If you go to work 10 hours a day and all of a sudden that disappears, you have to find other things to fill your time.