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Warm tributes have been paid to Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, the former leader of Kent County Council, at a memorial service on Thursday held at Canterbury Cathedral.

The service to Lord Sandy, who died in August aged 66 after battling cancer, was attended by several hundred people. Alongside his family were close friends, former colleagues and several leading politicians, including two former Conservative leaders Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith.

The government was represented by former transport minister Ruth Kelly and local government minister John Healy.

His lifelong friend Chris Gosling, who first met Sandy when both became students at agricultural college in Circencester, gave an address in which he described Sandy as a devoted family man who had loved Kent. The pair had travelled together round the world when they were in their twenties.

"Sandy had a special gift of friendship and visitors always had a great time when they came to Boy Court Farm [his home near Maidstone]. He loved the Kent countryside and saw regeneration programmes as way to retain and maintain the beauty of his county."

He was devoted to his family and was a "wonderful father and husband" who was always kind and considerate, he added. "His kindness and widsom were freely shared."

It was a tragedy for the nation that his death meant that his contributions to both the House of Lords as a life peer and his work as chairman of English Heritage, which he took on in 2007, were so cruelly cut short.

"He was the best of friends, the nicest of men and in the proper meaning of the word, a true gentleman."

Folkestone and Hythe MP and former party leader Michael Howard, who also delivered an address, recalled how Sandy had entered public life when he became involved in campaigning over the proposed route of the Channel Tunnel rail link during the 1980s.

While the rail link remained unpopular with many, the fact that it had "given rise to one of the great political leaders of our time counts in its favour," he said.

He described Sandy’s approach to politics as one of principled pragmatism and it was this had led to one of the most creative political partnerships in recent years, when Kent County Council agreed to join pioneering partnership with government that eventually saw the authority secure £21million for improving services.

"Throughout his life, Sandy saw himself as he was seen by others,as a champion of Kent. His devotion to the county was legendary. I never heard him speak ill of anybody, nor anybody speak ill of him. That is not a common feature of political life."

~ Audio: Cllr Carter speaks to kmfm's Adam Williams about Lord Sandy >>>

But it was his family that was his bedrock, he said. "His love and devotion to Tess and to his children and grandchildren came before anything else and many have described the light that came into his eyes when he spoke about them. He had so much more to give to give to the county of Kent and to his family."

The service also featured readings from county council deputy leader Cllr Alex King and poems read by his son, Mark and his niece Harriet Creelman.

Speaking after the service, former Labour minister Ruth Kelly, who worked closely with Sandy over four years as both an education and local government minister, said: "He was a wonderful man who had great charm. He was a consensus politician who always wanted to do what was right."

Local government minister John Healy said he had been instrumental in persuading the government to take local government more seriously. "The best local government leaders lead their areas as he did in Kent but he also led on national policy. He played a major part in persuading government to have more confidence in local councils and allow them to get on with it."