PRESS RELEASE : Dick Cole celebrates 25 years as Mebyon Kernow leader [October 2022]

The press release issued by Mebyon Kernow on 13 October 2022.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of Dick Cole’s election as the leader of Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall. He was voted into the role at MK’s 1997 Annual Conference, held on 4th October in Fraddon Village Hall.

It is also nearly 30 years since Dick first became an officer for MK, as he was elected as MK’s Press and Campaigns Officer on 20th November 1992.

Speaking on behalf of MK’s ruling National Executive, Cllr Loveday Jenkin said:

“Dick is fantastic champion for Cornwall. Throughout his adult life, he has worked so hard for a democratic future for Cornwall, devolution through a National Assembly or Cornish Parliament, progressive policies to build a fairer and more socially just nation, greater protections for Cornish identity and culture, and so much more.

“His drive and dedication, as MK’s principal spokesperson and an active elected councillor, is remarkable, and it is an extraordinary achievement that he has had the commitment and energy to serve as the leader of Mebyon Kernow for a quarter of a century.”

Further information:

It is believed that Dick Cole is the second longest-serving leader of a political party in the United Kingdom. Only Arthur Scargill of the Socialist Labour Party, founded in 1996, has served longer.

Educated at Indian Queens Primary School and Newquay Treviglas School, Dick left school in 1983 and worked for five years as a farm worker / gardener. He joined MK in 1988, at the age of 21, just before he went to study archaeology and history at St David’s University College, Lampeter.

He became MK’s Press and Campaigns Officer in 1992, initially sharing the role with long-standing MK councillor Colin Lawry. Five years later in 1997, Dick became the tenth leader of the Party.

He has contested a total of 15 elections as an official MK candidate. These include ten council elections and four Westminster contests. He also topped the MK list in the 2009 elections to the European Parliament, when MK secured over 15,000 votes.

He was elected to serve his home parish of St Enoder on Restormel Borough Council in 1999, and served on the authority until it was abolished in 2009. During this time, he balanced his civic duties with his work with the Cornwall Archaeological Unit (Cornwall County Council).

When the unitary authority was created in 2009, Dick stood down from his employment, which would have prevented him serving on the new council. Last year, following the reduction in the number of councillors on Cornwall Council, he was elected to serve the larger St Dennis and St Enoder division. Dick presently leads the six-strong Mebyon Kernow / Green Group on the Council. In addition to his council duties, he works part-time for the Cornwall Heritage Trust.

During the last 25 years, he has been involved in a wide range of campaigns. These have included more powers to Cornwall through a National Assembly or Parliament, opposition to the centralisation of local government into a single unitary authority, Cornish control over housing and planning, fair funding for Cornwall’s public services, etc.

A life-long advocate for greater self-government for Cornwall, Dick wrote the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly, which was launched by MK in 2000, signed by over 50,000 people and presented to 10 Downing Street in December 2001. He is presently leading the work on a revised self-government policy document for MK. Dick was also the founding vice-chairman of the cross-party Cornish Constitutional Convention, and one of the spokespeople for the Keep Cornwall Whole campaign group which campaigned against the imposition of a “Devonwall” parliamentary constituency.

He also chairs the working group on the unitary authority tasked to ensure that the national minority status of the Cornish is respected by central government and all public bodies.

As a councillor, Dick has raised funds for a range of projects including new community buildings, new play equipment and environmental improvements in his local area. He has also played a leading role in a range of prominent planning battles and chairs the China Clay Area Community Network.

In addition, he has been a member of St Enoder Parish Council since 1999 and he is a trustee of two local charities. Dick is also the chairman of both the St Piran Trust and the ClayTAWC social enterprise at St Dennis.

In 2017, he was named third on Cornwall Live’s “Cornish List” of the top 50 people who “lead the way in campaigning on Cornish issues” and “flying the black and white flag for Cornwall.”

In 2019, Dick was honoured with a bardship of Gorsedh Kernow, in recognition of his work to protect the cultural and geographical integrity of Cornwall. His bardic name is Gwythyas an Tir (Guardian of the Land).

This year, the university in Lampeter, where Dick studied – now known as University of Wales: Trinity St Davids) – has marked its 200th anniversary. As part of the bicentenary celebrations, the university produced biographies of 200 notable graduates; one of the 200 was Dick Cole.