There are few figures in the chamber of Kent County Council who are liable to bring a smile to the faces of members quite like Barry Lewis.

Famous for one-liners and good-humoured put-downs, the Labour man from Thanet rarely misses the chance to burnish his socialist credentials.

Perhaps out of step with his party in some respects - arguably he would lean more towards Tony Benn than Sir Keir Starmer - he is fundamentally an old-fashioned leftie.

Few could claim he does not stick up for Margate, arguing most recently against the threatened closure of the Millmead children’s centre (formerly SureStart) and the destruction of farmland to meet Kent’s government-imposed house-building targets.

Cllr Lewis has robust, and frequently-expressed, opinions on the state of Kent’s potholed roads. And don’t get him started on the Thanet Parkway railway station.

Barry Lewis was born 73 years ago in Mile End, east London - an only child to his devoted parents, Anne and Jack, who ran a clothes shop.

The family lived in Upminster and Cllr Lewis admits he was spoiled as a boy.

“It was overall probably a bad thing,” he confesses, “because I relied on them to make decisions for me and I didn’t develop much independence as a result.”

He first attended The Bell primary school, as it was known locally due to its proximity to the Bell Inn pub, and passed the 11+ to get a grammar school place. Clearly bright enough to win a place in the top swim of English education at the time, he hated it.

“I left school at the earliest opportunity at 16 years old. I couldn’t stand school and couldn’t wait to get a job and start to learn at the university of life rather than spend my days in the classroom being taught how many wives King Henry Vlll had.”

Cllr Lewis is known as a man who likes a flutter and it is his quick brain for mental arithmetic that assisted him when he got a job in a betting shop and later at the racetracks.

“I then became a part-time market researcher which taught me how to talk to complete strangers which has been a great help with political door knocking to this day.”

Gambling is in politicians’ blood - as the general election scandal amply demonstrated - but there are other applications, claims Cllr Lewis.

“It helps. In politics, you do a lot of risk assessments when you are deciding policy or manifesto commitments and that’s what you have to do with betting. So I suppose there is a correlation there.

“I have been successful at it. I still partake but I don’t believe in luck. Luck is an invention by losers. I can’t say I am rich but let us say I am fortunate that I can survive the perils of an unexpected bill.”

He says he was able to predict new Labour Thanet MP Polly Billington’s vote share (and that of Reform UK’s) to within a couple of decimal points.

He explains: “You’re never going to get it 100% right all the time but you can be a lot of the time. It’s a mathematical game.”

The allure of trudging through torn ticket stubs and fag butts at a dog track on a wet midweek evening is not for everyone. But the old Dumpton Park Stadium in Ramsgate was Cllr Lewis’s “second home” for many years until it was shut in 1996 and sold for housing with names like Brindle Grove - a gentle nod to the greyhounds who flew out of the traps there.

Sometimes watching the horses at Folkestone racecourse, now also destined to be housing, he would be called down from the stands to “do a bit of clerking” - keeping the betting ledger to help the bookie assess changes to the odds.

So, what is the attraction?

“Gambling is not about backing winners, it’s about beating the odds.”

Cllr Lewis hardly ever offers tips but is happy to share a horse he’s backing and “if they go for the same one as me, that’s up to them”.

While politics have always been an interest and part of his beliefs, seeking elected office didn’t come until he moved to Margate 40 years ago.

He says “Because of my hatred of the way (former Conservative Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher was treating the miners all over the country, especially in east Kent, I dipped my toe into local politics by joining the Labour Party and I became a district councillor.

“But then I rebelled by refusing to pay the dreaded Tory poll tax and got chucked out of the Labour group. In principle, I resigned my seat to fight it again - this time as an independent, anti-poll tax candidate and, to everyone’s surprise, I won.”

He first was elected to KCC as the member for Margate in 2017, and took a seat at Sessions House in Maidstone, where he is a regular stalking the corridors, hanging back for a chat or telling some pretty dreadful jokes.

Cllr Lewis cites Tony Benn, bane of the progressive wing of the Labour movement, as a hero in politics.

“He always gave direct answers to questions and never attacked anyone on a personal level.”

Dennis Skinner (dubbed the beast of Bolsover) and Diane Abbott are his other inspirational figures from Labour’s past and present.

Asked if there is a Conservative politician he admires, he replies pointedly: “No. My brand of politics is fighting injustice and right-wing policies. I try to do this with a little humour and plain English. Politics is about priorities not privileges.”

Later he rejoined his old party and has been at Kent County Council for two terms. Next May, when KCC’s 80-odd seats are back up for grabs, Cllr Lewis hopes he will be back in the mix.

In 2017, he beat the Conservative runner-up by 2% (42% of the popular vote) and by exactly the same margin when he stood again in 2021.

No one is quite sure how things will pan out in 2025. Labour may be able to secure enough seats to become the largest opposition party, although the resurgent Liberal Democrats and the growing Green Party already have that prize in their sights.

The “known unknowns” are how badly the Conservatives may do, given the battering they took in the general election, and the rise of Reform UK who have made no secret they are “coming for Labour”.

Cllr Lewis has already predicted that the combined opposition may have enough seats to form a “rainbow alliance”.

“I have served nearly two terms and enjoy the banter of politics. I try to explain politics in a way people can understand rather than talking down to them, sometimes using humour to explain serious issues.”

One Conservative backbencher says: “Barry’s Barry. He reads the papers and comes armed with an opinion and some helpful and, at times, unhelpful suggestions. The place would be a lot duller without him.

“No one could ever say that he is not passionate in his beliefs, that’s for sure. He’s an immensely likeable chap who never wastes a chance to have a dig at us. For all the corny jokes and banter, you’d under-estimate him at your peril.”

Friendly and media-savvy, Cllr Lewis will quip to journalists: “I don’t care what you write about me, just spell my name right!”

His strongest critic, he says, is his wife of 46 years, former care assistant Ann.

“She puts up with me through a process of selective hearing,” he said.