Martin Cox is the new leader of Maidstone council.

He succeeds Cllr Fran Wilson who stepped down after leading the council for the last three years.

Cllr Cox, the Lib Dem group leader, who represents East Ward triumphed over his Conservative rival John Perry by the smallest of margins at the council's annual meeting on Saturday morning.

The vote in the Town Hall was 27 for Cllr Cox and 25 for Cllr Perry, with one abstention.

Neither the Lib Dems nor the Tories have an overall majority in the 55-seat council chamber and so both needed the support of the minor parties to get their candidate elected.

In the end Labour councillors Keith Adkinson and Paul Harper voted for Cllr Cox as did the independent councillors Fay Gooch, Steve Munford, Janetta Sams, Tom Sams and Richard Webb.

The two Independent Maidstone Party councillors Gordon Newton and Eddie Powell voted for Cllr Perry, and Labour Cllr Malcolm McKay abstained.

The Conservatives' bid for leadership was undermined by the absence of two of their own councillors: Cllr Shellina Prendergast and newly elected Cllr Alan Bartlett both sent their apologies, with Cllr Bartlett missing his first ever council meeting.

Subsequently Cllr Fay Gooch (Ind) was elected as deputy leader, by 28 votes to 25.

Cllr Dave Naghi was confirmed as the new Mayor as expected, taking over from Malcolm Greer, with Marion Ring as has deputy.

Cllr Naghi is our first American-born Mayor, but not the first Mayor born outside of England. Previous Mayors have included Mary Black, born in Glasgow, and Morel D'Souza, born in Kenya.

Mr D'Souza recently passed away and the council meeting began with a minute's silence in his honour. His wife Carina and children Karin and Carl were in the audience, when later, each party's group leader paid tribute to Mr D'Souza.

As is traditional, the new mayor was congratulated by a number of scholars of the town, including Henry Warby from Maidstone Grammar School, Lily Lowe from Maidstone Girls Grammar School and Munashe Chinengo from East Borough Primary School.

Jack Sullivan, from Valley Park School, which in its former guise of Vinters Boys School is where the Mayor himself was educated, hoped that "Others would not be offended by the fact that today's Royal nuptials had been completely over-shadowed by this Mayor-making."

The meeting was on the same day as the Royal Wedding.