UK's 'longest-serving party leader' to stand down

One of Cornwall's best-known politicians who is understood to be the longest-serving leader of a political party in the UK is standing down after 29 years in the role.

Mebyon Kernow (MK) leader Dick Cole is due to be replaced by Michael Bunney at MK's national conference in Truro on 24 October, the party has announced.

Cole has been involved in campaigns for greater recognition for Cornwall and the Cornish language, and to secure devolution for the Cornish nation, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said he would continue as the group leader of the MK group on Cornwall Council.

He has served as a councillor for 27 years, first representing St Enoder on Restormel Borough Council and then as a councillor on Cornwall Council where he has served St Dennis and St Enoder for the last five years.

He also stood in four UK general elections.

In 2000, he wrote the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly, which was supported by more than 50,000 people and was presented to 10 Downing Street in December 2001.

In 2009, he topped MK's list for the election to the European Parliament for the SW region, the LDRS said.

He moved a motion which was accepted at Cornwall Council in 2025 calling for a devolution settlement, to reflect "Cornwall's national identity and the national minority status of the Cornish", and recognising the county "as one of the five nations" in the UK.

He said: "When I joined Mebyon Kernow as a 21-year-old in 1988, I did not envisage the degree to which politics, council work and serving my local community would dominate my adult life, or that I would end up as the longest-serving leader of a political party in the UK.

"I am extremely proud to have been able to play my part in making the case for greater self-government for Cornwall and a much better deal for communities to the west of the [River] Tamar."

Successor Michael Bunney is a teacher who taught at Newquay and St Austell and is currently working for Gorsedh Kernow (the association which oversees the bards of Cornwall).

He served as an MK councillor, representing St Mewan and Grampound on Cornwall Council between 2021 and 2025, and served as a parish councillor in St Goran for 10 years.

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