When David Cameron became leader of his party in 2005, succeeding the Kent MP Michael Howard, he did so at what was arguably one of the party’s lowest points.

Labour had inflicted another heavy defeat on the Conservatives in Kent, the electoral map was still stubbornly largely half blue and half red.

Fast forward to 2010 and the party’s fortunes were transformed as it seized all of the Kent seats as Labour imploded.

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It seemed a vindication for Mr Cameron, the architect of “modern compassionate Conservatism.”

But despite his success in Kent he fell short of securing an overall majority and was forced to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Some of his policy pledges proved hard to swallow for loyal traditionalists.

His insistence that the party would not allow new grammar schools went down like a lead balloon in the county but he stuck to his guns.

But if there was to be an Achiles heel that dogged the PM, it was immigration.

His “no ifs, no buts” commitment to bring down the numbers entering the UK illegally to tens of thousands came back to haunt him.

The impact of immigration was felt and seen more acutely in Kent - the “Gateway to Europe” - than many other parts of the UK.

The so-called “jungle camp” in Calais and the images of the desperate efforts of migrants and asylum seekers to get to the UK at Dover and Folkestone were ruthlessly exploited by Nigel Farage and Ukip.

Dismissed by Cameron as “fruitcakes and closet racists” Ukip’s popularity rose.

Against all the odds, Ukip took a swathe of county council seats in 2013 coming from nowhere to become the official opposition.

It was a trigger for disgruntled Conservatives in Kent to call for a return to more traditional policies.

But a further significant breakthrough came in the European elections in 2014. Ukip won, trouncing the Conservatives in the south east.

There was worse to come a year later.

Kent was thrust unexpectedly into the political spotlight with the defection of Conservative MP Mark Reckless for Rochester and Strood to Ukip.

At the heart of the campaign - inevitably - were the toxic issues of immigration and the EU.

Party leaders generally avoid by-elections but Cameron turned that convention on its head, visiting the constituency no fewer than five times.

It was to no avail and Cameron’s premiership seemed to have been holed below the waterline. With Ukip in the ascendancy, the PM was looking increasingly vulnerable.

Despite everything, he emerged victorious in the general election last May - confounding the pollsters - and returning with a small majority to Number Ten.

Astonishingly, the Conservative vote rose significantly in even rock-solid Kent constituencies.

Ukip's purple wave had, it seemed, reached its peak. Nigel Farage failed for the seventh time to become MP.

But less than a year later, Cameron had paid the heaviest price for losing the EU referendum. He was forced out of office after his high-stakes gamble backfired spectacularly.

In Kent, every single area bar Tunbridge Wells voted for a Brexit. It was a catalyst for an extraordinary and turbulent political fortnight.

Just a few weeks after the referendum, he was welcoming removal men to Downing Street rather than heads of state.

Politics can be a brutal business.

More than that, events have underlined just how unpredictable it can be.