Former mayor Jenny Langston yesterday announced her engagement to fellow councillor Mark Barnard, five months after her husband died.

The news followed her crushing defeat in the General Election, when she had hoped to win back the Hove seat for the Conservatives.

Today, the 53-year-old, who has been sporting a diamond solitaire engagement ring for two weeks, said she realised some people would think it was too soon for her to have another relationship.

But she said Mark's emotional support during the months following the death of Steve, her husband of 32 years, had brought them together.

And it was on the General Election night, when her dreams of becoming an MP were shattered, that they discovered the depths of their feeling for each other.

Mark, 34, and Jenny have been councillors, friends and members of the Conservative party for many years.

Jenny said: "It will be too soon for some but when is the right time?

"I have faced death twice. Once, when I had a brain haemorrhage and again, a few weeks ago, with a breast cancer scare.

"It makes you appreciate how precious life is and that you should live it while you can.

"I have 32 years of wonderful memories of Steve and the life we had together, I will never forget him and he will always be a part of me."

She added: "The children have all said that Steve would want me to be happy after his death."

Her husband, a city councillor for the Goldsmid ward, died in bed at their home in Avondale Road, Hove, in February, after suffering a blood clot.

Jenny decided to continue with her campaign to become Conservative MP for Hove in June, saying she knew Steve would have wanted her to carry on.

But she lost to Labour's Ivor Caplin and the same night Steve's Goldsmid ward fell to Labour in a by-election.

In the run-up, Mark, a Hangleton councillor, worked tirelessly on her campaign, acting as her driver and assistant, taking her to meetings and canvassing for votes.

Jenny said: "We gradually became closer but it was not until the emotion of election night that we realised there was a bond between us.

"After we failed to win Hove back, we decided to get away from politics for a while.

"We flew to Gran Canaria for a short holiday and it was really then that we decided that we wanted to make our relationship permanent.

"When we returned home, Mark formally asked his parents, Tony and Ann, if they would give their consent for us to marry.

"They were delighted and immediately wished us every happiness.

"We also spoke to the children Steve and I fostered during our marriage, although they are, of course, now grown up.

"All of them are very happy for us and one of them, Marc, will be giving me away."

After returning from the holiday, the couple bought Jenny's diamond engagement ring.

They are planning to marry in October, at All Saints Church, Hove.

She said: "We won't have a civic wedding, it will be more of a public wedding.

"It will be for family and all our friends in public life that we have known for so many years."

Mark, who lives with his parents in Bolsover Road, Hove, said: "I had known Jenny and Steve for ages and had the greatest respect for the work they did together.

"I left it for a couple of weeks after Steve died, before I went to see Jenny.

"I wanted to offer her my help and support after all the initial upheaval had died down.

"I invited her back to my parents' home and between us we were able to give Jenny some of the emotional support she needed.

"From then on, she gradually became a part of our family."

He said: "I have met all Jenny's foster children and their children and we get along fine.

"I am not replacing Steve and wouldn't want to. I am my own person and they respect that.

"Jenny and I are both adults and there was no great romance.

"Our love is a more mature love, which has developed from a deep friendship."

Mark's father, Tony, suffered a brain haemorrhage when the councillor was just eight years old.

He was left blind and paralysed on one side and although he has made a partial recovery, Mark and his mother have cared for him at home since.

Tony Barnard said: "Jenny and I have something in common. We both suffered haemorrhage and there is an empathy between us.

"My wife and I have been married for 40 years and we have helped and supported each other along the way. If Mark and Jenny can continue to do that for each other they will not go far wrong."

The couple are now looking to buy a house in the Mile Oak area and Jenny intends to let out her former marital home.

They plan to continue with their political lives, with Mark hoping to stand again as a councillor in Hangleton next year and also stand for election as an MP in a Brighton constituency.

Jenny has also not abandoned her ambition to become an MP.

She said: "I would like to stand again as a parliamentary candidate for Hove at the next election. By that time, there will be a new party leader and the political atmosphere may have changed.

"If there is support for me and it feels right, I would certainly like to have another go. I am also not ruling out standing as a candidate for elected mayor in two years' time.

"If people in the city say they want an elected mayor, it is something I would be happy to be nominated for. It would depend who the other candidates were and whether there would be the kind of support for me as there was when I was civic mayor."