Kent’s Conservatives suffered another blow last night, as their candidate for the leadership of Ashford Borough Council (ABC) failed to receive the support of his whole group.

It allowed a minority coalition of the Ashford Independents and the Greens to take power - and means the local authority will not have a Tory in the top job for the first time in more than 20 years.

Cllr Neil Bell (Con) was expected to be the next leader of ABC - but two Tory members broke the party whip and voted against him.

Instead, Cllr Noel Ovenden (Ashford Independents) was voted in as the new leader of the council, but did not appoint his cabinet on the night.

ABC was left under no overall control after the elections on May 4, with no party holding a majority on the 47-seat authority.

The Conservatives remained the largest group with 19 seats, tailed by Labour with 11, the Ashford Independents with nine, and the Greens with eight.

However, at Tuesday night’s meeting, the Ashford Independents and Greens sided with each other in backing Cllr Ovenden’s bid to lead the local authority.

Labour also proposed their group leader Brendan Chilton to take the role. With more than two proposals for the position, two rounds of voting occurred.

With only the votes of the 11 Labour members, Cllr Chilton was knocked out after the first round.

In the second round, all the Labour councillors abstained, but in both rounds Cllr Bell received 17 votes, and Cllr Ovenden received 19.

Two Conservatives - Cllr Bill Barrett and Cllr Andrew Buchanan - broke their party’s whip, voting against their own leader in favour of Cllr Ovenden.

After being elected leader and a round of applause, the Ashford Independent told members that he would not yet appoint his cabinet.

“It’s an important decision, given that this is the first change in leadership in a very long time and I’d like to take time to consider the names of the people in the cabinet, and indeed the number and perhaps the portfolios that they hold,” he said.

The absence of a cabinet means no executive decisions can be made until one is formed.

The meeting was later adjourned until a cabinet is appointed, after which the chairs of various council committees can be finalised.

Speaking after the meeting, Labour leader Cllr Chilton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Well, we’ve got the two smallest parties on this council that have formed a very small minority administration. They’re going to have to work with Labour – which they haven’t done so far – to try to secure progressive policies for the people of Ashford.

“I think it’s a bit irresponsible to allow yourself to go forward to be the leader of the council without having a cabinet in place and at least some idea of what you’re going to do as leader of the council.

“It’s quite clear tonight that they might be in office but they are not in power.”

Cllr Larry Krause (Con) was elected as the 50th mayor of Ashford, and will chair the full council meetings, taking over from Cllr Jenny Webb (Con).

Cllr Lyn Suddards (Lab) was elected as deputy mayor.

This marks the sixth Kent council lost by the Conservatives following this year’s elections.

The Tories also lost control of the councils of Dover, Folkestone & Hythe, Thanet, Canterbury and Medway.