Linden Kemkaran is Leader of Kent County Council and KCC Member for Maidstone Southeast. She attended the University of Surrey as a mature student, gaining an honours degree in English, Drama and Theatre.

Linden then joined BBC News as an editorial assistant before rapidly working her way up to news planner and producer, specialist defence and security producer and then news correspondent, covering national and international news.

After having her two children, Linden became a freelance journalist, and over a period of ten years, combined TV, radio and print assignments with a successful sideline as a property developer. She went on to work at the University of Greenwich as a communications specialist before joining the Spectator magazine and then reprising her communications skills to work for an MP in Parliament.

Prior to going to university Linden worked in retail and as a private secretary within the Ministry of Defence.

Linden’s passions include English wine (particularly Kentish wine as she has recently planted a small vineyard), horse riding, politics, news and current affairs and practising Taekwondo in which she holds a third-degree black belt.

Linden is an avid reader, and lists John Steinbeck, Margaret Atwood, Melvyn Burgess, and Maggie O’Farrell among her favourite authors. She also enjoys creative writing when time allows and currently has ‘yet another novel’ on the go.