Derek Osbourne, who resigned on Tuesday after being arrested on suspicion of posessing indecent images of children, has been a mainstay of politics in Kingston for more than 25 years.

He has fought off Tory attempts to win the council as well as seeing off the last of the Labour councillors.

First elected to the council in 1986 as a councillor for the Liberal Alliance Focus Team in the now defunct Burlington ward, he moved swiftly up the political ranks.

In 1994, following his third election win in a row, he was made deputy leader of the council, before being appointed leader in 1997.

The Liberal Democrats lost control of the council in 1998, marking a four-year period in opposition before Mr Osbourne returned to leadership following victory in 2002.

In the 2010 election, he beat his nearest Conservative rival in the Beverley ward by 400 votes.

He has been a combative and occasionally controversial leader, who before his resignation this week, sat on 11 different committees, mostly as chairman or vice-chairman.

As the chairman of the South London Waste Partnership Joint Committee, he was instrumental in getting an incinerator green lighted on a site in Sutton last month.

He was also a member of the Achieving for Children committee, which is currently overseeing the merger between Kingston and Richmond children’s services.

He has also led his party to support the Rose Theatre in Kingston financially through thick and thin.