\u201cIt suddenly dawned on me that for 80% of my adult life, I had been in a leadership role for MK, which is quite a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cAdd on to that my council duties, my community duties, my part-time job [as an archaeologist] \u2013 it\u2019s all been quite overpowering for a number of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t tempted to try to make it to 30 years or to his 60th birthday next spring. \u201cIt makes a lot of sense at the moment to go. We\u2019ve got quite a lot of new members coming through. We\u2019ve got someone who\u2019s keen to step up. I don\u2019t want to fret too much about something not ending in a zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dick Cole in 1997. Photograph: Unknown\/Dick Cole<\/p>\n
Cole was chosen as party leader in 1997, the year Tony Blair became UK prime minister. He became a borough councillor two years later. He heard he won the seat on the radio while working on the remains of a Cornish engine house. He now serves his home patch of St Dennis and St Enoder on Cornwall<\/a> council.<\/p>\n Cole is no power-crazed dictator or tub-thumping orator. \u201cMK is quite collegiate. We all work together as a team. I\u2019m not the kingpin and everything I say goes. It\u2019s totally different from that. I\u2019m not someone who thinks I\u2019ve got the gift of the gab. I don\u2019t do the Blairite thing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n But he has worked hard, often 70 hours a week or more, keeping on top of his various jobs and roles. \u201cMost evenings I\u2019m still doing stuff, laptop on the sofa. I\u2019m there slogging away, doing my best, getting the messages out as best as I can. I think the role has been about persistence.\u201d<\/p>\n That persistence seems to have paid off. When Cole\u2019s political career began, the idea of meaningful devolution for Cornwall seemed a pipe dream.<\/p>\n Now Andy Burnham appears keen for more powers to be devolved to the far south-west of Britain and the idea of Cornwall becoming formally recognised<\/a> as the fifth UK nation is not far-fetched. Interest in Kernewek, the Cornish language, is surging<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just kept pushing and pushing and pushing, pressuring the MPs, writing the letters. Hopefully people will feel we\u2019ve moved the dial. We\u2019re not talking about independence but we want devolution within the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope they [the UK government] will now come through with something that\u2019s really meaningful and not just tweak local government and call it devolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792393694_943_1000.jpg\")
<\/p>\n