[Boromir88]

Thanks G55 . You might be right about the naming of it. I do seem to recall that the name "White Council" was because Saruman the White was the selected leader, but I could be misremembering. It might have been named the White Council for something completely different than the leader being Saruman.

To quote the part that I said Galadriel's statement was odd, because it sounds to me that she was the start up, the brains behind it's formation:

'I it was who first summoned the White Council. And if my designs had not gone amiss, it would have been governed by Gandalf the Grey, and then mayhap things would have gone otherwise." (The Mirror of Galadriel)

Of course I could be implying something more than what Galadriel means when she says she was the one who first summoned the council, but it would at least suggest she was the primary person behind it's formation. And therefor if she was the initial brains behind it, and said if "her designs would not have gone amiss" Gandalf would have governed it, I'm rather curious to find out how he wasn't the leader in the first place?

I think your answer about, the reason being Gandalf himself at this stage would have deferred to Saruman anyway because that's Gandalf's character is the answer that makes the most sense. It's probably all there is to it, but Galadriel's comment in Lothlorien had me wondering if there were other voices that preferred Saruman, which lead to him heading it.