"This is probably my last stint"
What Steven asked Cllr Barry Kemp, Group Whip for the Medway Conservative Group and councillor for Rainham South West
Barry Kemp has been a Conservative councillor in Medway since 2007, serving as a two-term Mayor during that time. Steven went to Cllr Kemp’s house on what turned out to be his birthday and asked him about internal relationships within the Conservative Group, what happened to the former mayoral chain, why people in Hoo wanted him dead, and if he ever considered joining the Labour Party.
Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted in February before Cllr Elizabeth Turpin resigned as deputy leader of the Conservative Group and Councillor George Perfect was elected Deputy Leader.
Where were you born?
I was born in Rainham.
What jobs did your parents do?
My father was a carpenter and joiner. My mother was a housewife, and she worked in school kitchens as a cook.
Were they both from the Medway area?
My father was born locally and my mother was from Dumfries, Scotland. They met in Hereford towards the end of the war, and they got married in ‘46, and I was born in ‘47.
How did you find school?
The thing with school is you always look back with rose-coloured spectacles. You remember the good times, you don't remember the boredom and the tedium. But no, I was fairly happy at school. I went to Gillingham Technical High School, which then transformed into Rainham Mark Grammar. I was quite happy with there. It was a good school. Everybody knew each other and teachers were pretty good.
What did you study in sixth form?
My A-levels were in Maths, Physics, Technical Drawing, and I also did Music privately because I'm a musician. I studied Music post-school at London College of Music.
What instruments do you play?
Organ and piano. I was the organist at Rainham Church for 36 years until a couple of years ago. I've got a certificate from the RCSM celebrating 60 years of being a church organist.
What was your first full-time job?
A trainee accountant for Kent County Council. I went on to Elliot Flight Automation up at the airport as a technical author, got made redundant there. There was a big slump in the aircraft industry in the early 1970s. There was nothing to write about. I went to college to train as a teacher. Started off teaching music, that was my principal subject, but I didn't really like the way we were being asked to teach music at that time by the inspectors. I took a degree with the Open University in Mathematics, and then I became a mathematics teacher until I became Mayor.
What was it you didn’t like about being a music teacher?
The emphasis was on ‘free expression’ without the necessary form and structure that should accompany it. As a classical musician, this was an anathema.
Now you're retired, what additional roles, paid or unpaid, you do?
None really. I volunteer, and I play the organ. I'm also a Rotarian. The motto there is service before self. And that's my motto if I can help people. And if I can put a little bit back into society, then all to the good. I'm also a member of the Freemasons, that's a similar sort of thing. But yeah, that's about it, really.
It’s your birthday! Are you doing anything specific?
We had the family down on Saturday. We took the grandkids for a walk and finished up in The Crown. Then we went to Chuck and Blade for a burger, mainly for the kids. Not my choice but you know with four grandkids and children, you've got to keep them entertained. It was very good, actually. I quite recommend it.
Did you receive any particular birthday gifts?
I got a new suit and a box of chocolates from dearly beloved. Trouble is, when you get to my age, you don't really want anything, you don't need anything. If you do, you can just get it.
You are the councillor for what is now Rainham South West, is that extensively the same ward as Rainham Central?
No, it's smaller, down to the Boundary Commission, down from a three-member ward to two. A sizeable chunk went to Hempstead and Wigmore. I was a bit worried because there's a lot of blue voters up there. Very blue voters, who didn't really need the very blue voters. They’ve got enough of their own. The quirks of boundary changes. It was a boundary change, but we got through with a comfortable majority.
Is it the ward you live in?
Yes. This is probably my last stint because in three years’ time, I should be 80. I'd much rather go when I decide, rather than having people ask why aren’t I stopping. One or two councillors in the past have been a bit doddery. It is a late finish, those four full council meetings. We've been trying to get them shorter, but the trouble is there's so many items, and the agenda items have got to be done. If you start increasing the number of council meetings, you're increasing the work of Democratic Services, and they're pushed themselves. You've got to get a delicate balance. We've been trying to think of ways of streamlining the meetings, which is a good thing.
When did you join the Conservative Party?
I joined the Conservative Party in 1997. I flirted with joining the Gillingham Borough Council in those days with a friend of mine, Graham Payne. He died a few years back. That wasn't the time to stand as a Conservative councillor. We got wiped off the floor by the Liberal Democrats.
What was it about the Conservative Party at that time that made you want to join?
You never met Graham Payne, did you? He's very persuasive (laughs). I'd never really took a great deal of interest, to be quite honest with you. I didn't really start taking a firm interest until I got elected here in 2007. I was cutting the front lawn, and a friend of mine, Michael O’Brien, the late great Mike O’Brien, came by. ‘Hello Barry,’ ‘Hello Mike’, ‘Fancy joining the council?’ ‘Not really, how much work is involved?’, ‘Not a lot,’ The lying git (laughs).
In Rainham Central, there were three candidates. One of them moved up to Huntingdonshire, so he couldn't stand obviously. His seat was taken, or his place was taken by Reh Chishti, the other councillor was a chap called Paul Foster and he couldn't stand because he was under some investigation. They gave his seat to Michael O’Brien. Well, he had to be elected obviously. The third one didn't like that and resigned in protest, and they needed a third one, and this was sort of four days before the cut-off date.
I said, ‘Oh well, alright Mike, as it is you’. Just thinking, you know, you turn up for a couple of meetings. That was on Sunday, the Monday night the President, David Royle, and the President of the Association came down and interviewed me, and he was all, ‘I suppose he will do.’ And that’s how I got involved and ended up getting the biggest majority in the ward (laughs).
Just an ordinary backbencher, then I think I became Vice Chair of children’s committee. After the subsequent election, when Ken Bamber stood down, they made me the Group Whip for the Conservative Group, and I've been the whip ever since, and then ended up chairing the CYP (Children and Young People) committee up until the last election. They wanted me to go into the cabinet, but I thought to myself, ‘Well, I've given up one full-time job, I certainly don't want another one.’ When Les Wicks stood down, I was offered it then. I was offered it after Mike O’Brien died and turned it down. I was offered it after Andrew Mackness resigned. I was quite happy, you know. I didn't really want that responsibility.
Just to clarify, I've got you down as first standing in 1994.
1997.
So, you didn't stand in St Margaret's in 1994?
Yeah, it could well be. It was Gillingham Borough Council then. Yeah, it could well be. I said 1997 because I've just had that figure in mind. It was a long time ago.
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