It’s all over baby blue…
And finally, that was it. Well, except it isn’t - the party conferences are merely punctuation marks along the way to Downing Street, a necessary pause, where candidates for the top job take a breather and try to find ways - credible ways - of implementing the promises they and their party have made in opposition.
So, how did the parties fare?
Conservative leader Feme Badenoch was in characteristic plain-speaking mode as she wound up the conference season. She urged voters not to waste their breath on those pesky protesters who spent their weekends distributing leaflets pledging to defeat those trying to impose thousands of new homes.
Why? Many are party activists who look dimly at bulldozers churning up the precious soil to make way for bricks.
In one arresting passage, she muttered darkly that there were planners and environmental groups who would stop at nothing to preserve the natural habitat of creatures large and small.
Her response?
“When we are in charge no one from Natural England will turn up with a clipboard counting bats and newts. It’s time to build new nuclear and not worry about whether the fish can have discos.”
Fish? Discos? You can hear the protests already - “trout, trout, trout - out, out, out..”
She took time to slap down those who were keen on finding a way back into the EU. And those who were determined not to, revealing just how difficult it continues to be to find a solution to the problem of what to do next. Europe remains the Conservatives faultline but the cracks could become a schism if she is not careful.
But she was adamant that there would be no pacts or alliances with other parties when it came to the election, directing withering disdain at the Reform party and its antics.
Yes, the Reform party discovered that becoming part of the political mainstream was not all it was cracked up to be, with the media lifting the lid on its donations that critics said breached the ministerial code.
Leader Nigel Farage has been on the backfoot backfoot over million- pound donations from wealthy benefactors and he struggled to get the traction he previously had.
The political equivalent of a rugby scrum showed just how the political landscape has become increasingly challenging for a party whose leader used his tremendous guile and a populist touch to march his troops to success.
Kent retains its reputation as a Reform party stronghold but its grip is not as secure as it was and some of the gloss on its achievements has worn off, with its management - or mismanagement - of KCC under scrutiny.
As to Labour, it switched leader - a bold step once it had realised that its prospects under Sir Keir were swirling down the political plughole rapidly.
It is too early to assess the impact of the switch but the party seemed to be in safer hands, which has stopped the freefall and descent into oblivion.
As with the Reform party, there has been a lot more scrutiny of the Green Party with internal strife breaking out into the open. It continues to attract popular support but will Conservative backers stick with it when the crunch comes? The notion of a quiet alliance between the two when a proper general election is held strikes many as a fanciful one.
And while the Lib Dems have continued to steal a march on their rivals, it too has yet to really have a chance to test its credentials in Kent. It is doing a decent job holding the Reform party to account at County Hall but that alone won’t propel it to further Parliamentary success.
But if you want an illustration of how complex and unpredictable Kent has become, take a look at the outcome of a recent by-election battle in Tunbridge Wells.
The outcome of the vote in the fight for victory in the ward of Cranbrook, Sissinghurst, and Fritteneden ward saw the Lib Dems gain the seat from the independent Tunbridge Wells Alliance; who had held the seat for two years having gained it from the Conservatives.
Yep, a by-election win for the Lib Dems, taking it from an independent which took it from the Conservatives.
The vote was a disappointment for the Reform group which saw its support ebbing away.
Kent was for years depicted at a parliamentary level as a county split largely two ways, the blue tide of the Cons clashing with the red of Labour.
No longer. The political palette comes in all colours, perhaps appropriately for the Garden of England.