‘It’s about persistence’: Cornish devolution no longer a pipe dream as its champion bows out

Dick Cole took up leadership of Mebyon Kernow in 1997, the same year Tony Blair became UK prime minister. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

There will be no great fanfare when Dick Cole steps down as party leader in a few days’ time.

“We’ll have an official handover at our party conference,” Cole said. “Hopefully it will be a nice event. We’ll go to the pub afterwards and have a few beers. I expect I’ll breathe a big sigh of relief.”