After losing control of Medway Council in May, Cllr Elizabeth Turpin stepped up and became deputy leader of the Conservative group.

Our local democracy reporter, Robert Boddy, went to meet her to hear about her political journey, her personal challenges and lessons, and what she has planned to get the Tories back in the driving seat.

Elizabeth Turpin isn’t a Medway native, but hails from a small village outside of Ely in Cambridgeshire called Manea.

She moved to the Towns for university, initially studying Theology and Philosophy before ditching it when she realised she didn’t want be an RE teacher or vicar, but says that really it was to be close to her future-husband and former councillor Rupert.

The Strood Rural representative eventually went to work at Chapter School, now Strood Academy, as a learning support assistant.

Although she says she’d always been interested in her local community, Elizabeth hadn’t considered a career in politics and found herself becoming engaged almost by accident.

Her husband Rupert had been councillor for Rochester South and Horsted since 2011, and through hearing what he was involved in Elizabeth found herself becoming interested and put herself forward in 2019.

Elizabeth says part of the reason she stood was to speak up for people who were unable to speak for themselves and represent people who weren’t being represented.

She became more conscious of this due to Wilber, the youngest of her four children, who had Chromosome 6 abnormality, which meant he was non-verbal, and had partial sight and hearing loss.

“I’d had to be his advocate, stand up for him. I took what I learned from Wilber and used it in the community,” she explained.

The deputy leader says residents are always grateful for the effort she makes to solve their problems, regardless of the outcome, and it’s not always big sweeping changes that make the difference.

She added: “Often the small things that you do are the most meaningful. A school transport appeal, for example. If you’re affected it’s a big deal and causes real worries, even if it’s not that important to other people.”

An example of something of real concern for her residents during the last Conservative administration was the £170 million Housing Infrastructure Fund plans.

“I could see that there needed to be better infrastructure for getting out to the peninsula, but once you start trying to plan that, you realise how difficult that is,” Elizabeth said.

“You’re looking at going through environmentally sensitive areas. Early on I didn’t feel particularly comfortable with the idea we were proposing.”

Despite reservations about the HIF plans, Elizabeth says she wanted to work constructively with the public and council officers to make the best of it.

She said: “Residents had lots of ideas, and they made alternative proposals which were then fed into the plans, but still I was concerned. We weren’t sure it would deliver what we needed it to.

“There’s been a lot of comment from the new administration that we have been celebrating the loss of the HIF. It wasn’t like that.

“The number of houses for the area was out of proportion and would totally change the peninsula. It certainly wasn’t what the people of the peninsula wanted either, so there was a sense of relief.”

Outside of politics, Elizabeth and her family have faced serious challenges. Just before her youngest son Wilber’s eighth birthday, he had a nasty epileptic fit and was admitted to hospital.

Subsequent tests revealed that, despite general good health, his kidneys weren’t functioning properly and were declining.

The mum-of-four explained: “That year, then, just seemed to go so quickly. I was going up to the Evelina London Children’s hospital every three or four weeks with him.

Then, last July, Wilber caught COVID, was rushed to hospital, and put on a ventilator.

She continued: “I thought I was going to lose him then, but he fought back from that and was discharged in two or three days.

“It was incredible that on the Friday this little boy was on a ventilator and all these machines but on the Monday he was coming home.”

But after this, Elizabeth says Wilber’s kidneys declined rapidly and he moved to Demelza Children’s hospice.

“He had his final days there, and they were incredible,” she said. “They not only looked after Wilber but they looked after us as a family. You could just feel the love from them all, they’re an amazing team there.

“It was the worst thing we’ll ever have to go through, and continue to go through - it’s something we’ll deal with for the rest of our lives. He was such an amazing little boy.”

Wilber passed away on December 10 and Elizabeth says her overriding memories of him are how happy he was.

She said: “For someone who didn’t talk, he was larger than life. It’s hard to explain, unless you meet him. He just had so much character but he never said a word.

“I’ve got this lovely picture of him, he’s just got off the bus for school and it’s raining, and rather than being put off he’s tilted back, head up, letting the rain fall on his face, enjoying it. That photo, for me, sums him up.

“He had a lot of things to be upset about, his eyesight and his hearing loss, but there was no self-pity with Wilber whatsoever. As far as he was concerned, he had the best life and he was loving it.

“The thing I learned from Wilber was to enjoy life in the moment, not to think ‘Well I’ll be happy if I get this or that’, it’s just to be happy with the here and now, trying to make the best of that. That’s what he did.”

While all this was still happening, Elizabeth and her husband Rupert were still councillors, and she says they tried to keep up their ward work, in part just to have some distraction from what was going on.

After returning to work as a councillor, she said she did see some things differently.

Elizabeth explained: “There’s a selfish part of humans where you think “It’s just me something terrible’s happened to and it’s all roses for everybody else”, but actually, it makes you a bit more aware that everyone’s got something to deal with in their life.

‘It was the worst thing we’ll ever have to go through...’

“Sometimes people come to me with something that’s wrong and then they get all apologetic, and say their problems don’t compare to the loss of my son, but it can’t be that just because it’s not the same doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.”

And Elizabeth hopes that in future she’ll be able to do even more to help residents with their issues and improve their lives.

With a greatly reduced number of councillors now in opposition, the new deputy leader admitted becoming the deputy leader has been a learning curve she’s getting to grips with.

But, she’s got big ambitions and wants to help councillors to become more engaged with council business, finding creative ways to improve access to GPs, and ensure availability of quality jobs and housing.

Elizabeth says she’s not interested in being partisan, and is only focused on good policies that will actually help residents, regardless of who’s advocating for them.

She said: “I’m not a person who’s political for the sake of it. I am a Conservative but I’m not going to dismiss someone because they’re not. If they’re going to put good policies on the table then that’s great.

“There’s been some good stuff with how Labour have been working with us, there seems a desire to work together where possible. We have to focus on all the things we’ve got in common.”

With the current Tory leader, Cllr Adrian Gulvin, only intending to hold the role until a successor is found, I asked Elizabeth if she would put herself forward when the time came.

“I think I probably will,” she replied. “Whether the rest of the group want me as leader is another thing, but I’m certainly up for it.

“I think I’ve got quite a vast range of experience in life, and I think I’d bring people together. We’ve got some great people with a diverse set of skills and I’d like to help people use those skills to their full potential.”

She admits they’ve got a way to go before the next local elections in 2027, but is confident the Conservatives can win back resident’s trust.

Elizabeth continued: “We’ve had 20 years where we’ve been doing good work and getting things done, so it’s just getting people’s confidence back that we were doing a good job.”

As for the national stage, Cllr Turpin remains unsure about whether she would make the step up due to the commitment it would need, before adding: “I’ve got a bit too much on my plate to give it a proper go. I really enjoy my time with my family, and I’d hate to lose that right now. But never say never.”