Evidence-first investigation
Reform UK won 28 of Cornwall Council's 87 seats on 1 May 2025 — Britain's biggest unitary breakthrough. A year later, at least nine of those councillors have left the party. This page documents what happened, who went where, and what the public record — minutes, audio, conduct cases — shows.
Last updated: ~21 min read
Illustration: Cornwall Political Watch · AI-assisted
Six threads behind Reform UK's Cornwall collapse — jump straight to the evidence.
Evidence · chart
From 28 elected on 1 May 2025 to 21 today — the chronological seat-change record.
Inspect chart ↓
Evidence · audio
The 18 October 2025 audio that triggered five departures in thirteen days.
Play recording ↓
Evidence · table
Standards cases linked to Reform UK councillors since May 2025.
Open table ↓
“Branches have been dismantled, and unelected interim officers appointed. Volunteer county organisers operate without consulting elected Reform councillors.”
On 1 May 2025, Reform UK won 28 of Cornwall Council's 87 seats — its largest single breakthrough at any unitary authority in Britain. Just over a year later, at least nine of those councillors are gone. The leader, deputy leader, the leader's wife, three founding members of a breakaway group, and the deputy under the new leader have all left the party — most in a single fortnight in October 2025, captured in part on a leaked audio recording from the back room of a Cornish pub. The Liberal Democrats, who Reform was expected to displace as the largest group, instead overtook them.
This page documents what's happened, who has gone where, and what the public record — Cornwall Council minutes, the Council's standards committee, mainstream reporting, a contemporaneous audio recording, and Cornwall Political Watch's own dossier research — shows about how Reform UK's Cornwall operation has unravelled. It draws together formal resignations, defections, branch-chair removals, conduct cases, and a recorded factional dispute. Where central organisers are named only in our own dossier research and not in published reporting, this is flagged.
This is the second part of Cornwall Political Watch's reporting on Reform UK in Cornwall. The first part — Reform UK in Cornwall: command chain, dossiers, and the Dobwalls recording — maps Reform UK's national-to-local organisational structure. This page focuses on what has happened to Reform's elected councillors over the twelve months since they were elected.
| 1 May 2025 | 21 May 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reform group on Cornwall Council | 28 | 21 | −7 net (9 left, 2 by-election gains) |
| Largest group on Cornwall Council | Reform | Liberal Democrats (26) | Reform overtaken |
| Cornwall Reform group leader | Rob Parsonage | Paul Ashton | Replaced |
| Cornwall Reform group deputy | Rowland O'Connor | Richard Barker (elected unopposed at 19 May AGM) | Replaced (via O'Connor → Tarrant → vacancy → Barker) |
| Date | Councillor | Ward | Outgoing role | Destination | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 9 Oct 2025 | Rowland O'Connor | St Columb Major, St Mawgan & St Wenn | Group deputy leader | Independent → CING founder |
 | 11 Oct 2025 | Rob Parsonage | Torpoint | Group leader | Stayed Reform briefly, then CING |
 | Mid-Oct 2025 | Karen Knight | Camborne West & Treswithian | Backbencher | CING |
 | 25–26 Oct 2025 | Anna Thomason-Kenyon | Constantine, Mabe & Mawnan | Backbencher | CING |
| 25–26 Oct 2025 | Rob Parsonage(second move) | Torpoint | Reform party | CING (deputy leader) |
| Oct 2025 | Christine Parsonage | St Columb Minor & Colan | Backbencher | Resigned council seat (medical) | |
| 25 Feb 2026 | Rob Parsonage(third party in nine months) | Torpoint | CING | Conservatives |
 | 21 April 2026 | Roger Tarrant | Redruth North | Group deputy leader | Restore Britain · Read resignation speech → |
 | 22–23 April 2026 | Susanne Desmonde | Pool & Tehidy | Backbencher | Independent Non-Aligned |
 | 21 May 2026 | Jamie Hanlon | Penwithick & Boscoppa | Backbencher | Stand Alone Independent |
Standalone, regularly-updated list: Reform UK Cornwall defections.
A separate branch-level departure is documented in published reporting: Curtis Mellows, Reform's South East Cornwall branch chair (a volunteer post, not a councillor), was removed by central party in autumn 2025 and subsequently suspended from the party over a Prince Harry social-media post. Mellows has stated on the record that he had filed unaddressed bullying and harassment complaints within Reform Cornwall before his removal.
The first five months looked, on the surface, like a successful insurgency. Reform's 28 councillors were the largest single group. The party promised an administration. Then the Liberal Democrats and Independents combined to lock Reform out, and the group's first decision was a public refusal to sign Cornwall Council's code of conduct, citing concerns it would restrict debate on net zero and equalities. The protest dissolved within days. By August, two early structural weaknesses were public.
On 11 August 2025, Christine Parsonage — Reform UK councillor for St Columb Minor & Colan and the wife of group leader Rob Parsonage — admitted in writing to the Cornish Times that she had stood as “a paper candidate to give people the opportunity to have their voices heard,” that she “did not expect to win,” and that she lived approximately 40 miles from her division in Torpoint. Newquay Town Council had voted on 6 August to write a formal letter demanding she attend meetings. She took special leave on health grounds on 9 September and resigned her seat by the end of October, triggering the December 2025 St Columb Minor by-election.
That same August, Curtis Mellows — South East Cornwall Reform branch chair — went publicly on the record describing Rob Parsonage as possessing “neither the intellect nor leadership qualities, or indeed any charisma.” Mellows would be removed by central party in the autumn, suspended from Reform UK over an offensive Prince Harry social-media post, and on his way out would tell multiple outlets (Cornwall Live via Yahoo; The New World; East Devon Watch) that he had filed bullying and harassment complaints internally that were “ignored both regionally and nationally.” Two complaints from inside the tent, in the first three months. Neither was addressed publicly by the party.
October 2025 was the month that broke it.
In seventeen days, Reform Cornwall lost its leader, its deputy, the leader's wife, two further councillors, and its position as the largest party on the council. The audio from 18 October is the only contemporaneous primary source from inside the dispute.
Primary artefact
After “An Afternoon With Ann Widdecombe” at Dobwalls Memorial Hall on the afternoon of 18 October 2025, a group of Reform UK members and councillors moved to The Highwayman pub. What was recorded over the following minutes — by an as-yet-publicly-unnamed individual, on a phone — captures the operational dispute that defined Cornwall Reform's autumn.
18 October 2025 · After "An Afternoon With Ann Widdecombe" at Dobwalls Memorial Hall
On the recording, Alison Groves presses then-leader Rob Parsonage on three things — a parachuted-in branch chair, closed Facebook pages, and “certain actors trying to take control of the narrative in Cornwall” — and names Reform UK Regional Director Paul Mills as the person who decided to install Nathan Michell as Camborne, Redruth & Hayle branch chair. Within thirteen days of the recording becoming public, Parsonage and three other councillors had left the party.
Five Reform councillors left in October formed a new group on Cornwall Council — the Cornish Independent Nonaligned Group (“CING”). Its founding members:
Speaking to the Cornish Times, O'Connor said members had been told to focus on “immigration and net zero” instead of housing and public services. Parsonage alleged on the record (reported by East Devon Watch) that members had been instructed by central party — via a WhatsApp group — to oppose all renewable energy planning applications “whatever their merit.” Cornwall Political Watch has not seen the original WhatsApp messages; this allegation is reported here as Parsonage's claim.
CING's stated position: a Cornwall-first focus, working cross-party rather than against other groups, no national-issue motions imposed from outside Cornwall.
Of Reform UK's 28 councillors elected on 1 May 2025, where they are now:
Eight who left the party plus one — Cllr Kevin Towill — who died in office. Photos and current status:
Rowland O'Connor
St Columb Major, St Mawgan & St Wenn
CING leaderRob Parsonage
Torpoint
ConservativeChristine Parsonage
St Columb Minor & Colan
Resigned seatAnna Thomason-Kenyon
Constantine, Mabe & Mawnan
CINGKaren Knight
Camborne West & Treswithian
CINGRoger Tarrant
Redruth North
Restore BritainSusanne Desmonde
Pool & Tehidy
Ind. Non-Aligned
Kevin Towill
Newquay Porth & Tretherras
DeceasedJamie Hanlon
Penwithick & Boscoppa
Stand Alone Ind.Six months after October, the bleed continued.
East Devon Watch publishes a comprehensive timeline of the collapse. According to its reporting, Roger Tarrant — by then Reform's new deputy group leader — has also been removed against members' wishes from his Camborne, Redruth & Hayle branch chair role, replaced by “an unknown” parachuted in. Cornwall Political Watch's dossier research names the replacement as Nathan Michell; this name is not used in any published Cornwall reporting.
On 4 November, new group leader Paul Ashton tells the Holsworthy Today: “I don't call it a crisis – we might call it a blip … There is nobody from HQ breathing down our necks.”
Reform UK wins the St Columb Minor & Colan by-election triggered by Christine Parsonage's resignation. Heinz Glanville takes the seat with 408 votes on a 27.65% turnout (Hits Radio).
Cllr Kevin Towill dies aged 46 of a brain tumour first diagnosed in January 2024 (Radio Newquay). Cornwall Council's first-ever Reform UK member — he had defected from the Conservatives in early 2025 — Towill was a former Mayor of Newquay (2012/13) and had served as Reform's interim deputy group leader from 13 to 22 October 2025. His seat triggers the April 2026 Newquay Porth & Tretherras by-election.
25 February 2026. Rob Parsonage, by now leader of the breakaway CING group, joins the Conservatives — his third political home in nine months. He is welcomed personally by Cornwall Conservative leader Cllr Connor Donnithorne (Cornish Times; Cornwall Reports). Reform → CING → Conservative.
Roger Tarrant — Reform UK Cornwall's deputy group leader, elected to the post six months earlier in the aftermath of the Highwayman pub row — resigns from the party at the start of full Cornwall Council and defects to Restore Britain, the new party founded by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe. He becomes Cornwall's first Restore Britain councillor and one of approximately twenty nationwide (Cornish Times; Left Foot Forward; Cornish Stuff). His resignation speech is the first public statement from a serving Reform Cornwall councillor laying out a structural critique of the central party's relationship with its elected representatives. He predicts further departures and a leadership challenge against Paul Ashton at the May AGM; a Reform UK spokesperson responds that Tarrant had recently asked to be made leader, was passed over, and defected in retaliation.
“Branches have been dismantled, and unelected interim officers appointed.”
Read Roger Tarrant's resignation speech in full →
22 April 2026 — the organising reshuffle. The day after Tarrant's defection, Reform UK consolidates its Cornwall organising structure. The West Cornwall organiser post — held by Alison Groves since the May 2025 election — is abolished. Andrea Lovett, until then County Organiser for the East only, is promoted to sole County Organiser for the whole of Cornwall. Groves steps down from the County Organiser (West) role only; she retains her Reform UK membership, her Ludgvan parish seat, and her existing Vice Chair role at the Camborne, Redruth & Hayle branch — under Nathan Michell, the same chair whose appointment she had objected to on the Highwayman recording six months earlier, telling colleagues she had “never met that man before, ever.” What changed is the county-organiser layer, not the branch role: Groves no longer holds a parallel post that ranked above branch level, and the two figures named together on the recording — Lovett and Groves — end the day on opposite ends of the Cornwall Reform organisational chart.
22 or 23 April 2026. Susanne Desmonde (Pool & Tehidy) — who had been on extended medical leave through November 2025 — resigns Reform UK and joins the Independent Non-Aligned Group, the same week as Tarrant (Voice Newspapers).
23 April 2026. Reform UK retains the Newquay Porth & Tretherras seat in the by-election triggered by Kevin Towill's death. Lyndon Harrison wins with 645 votes. The Greens (Abigail Hubbucks) come a close second on 529. Turnout rises from May 2025's 33% to 37%, but Reform's vote share falls (Cornwall Reports). Harrison, on the night, criticises Hubbucks for refusing to shake his hand on the count floor.
19 May 2026 — Reform Cornwall AGM. Richard Barker (Cornwall Councillor for St Newlyn East, Cubert & Goonhavern) is elected as the Reform UK group's new Deputy Leader on Cornwall Council. Barker is the sole applicant for the post and is therefore appointed without contest, filling the deputy vacancy left by Roger Tarrant's defection to Restore Britain on 21 April. The leadership challenge against Paul Ashton that Tarrant had predicted on his way out does not produce a contested public vote at the AGM.
21 May 2026 — Hanlon goes independent. Jamie Hanlon (Penwithick & Boscoppa) leaves the Reform UK group to sit as a Stand Alone Independent — not joining CING, the Independent Non-Aligned Group, Restore Britain, or the Conservatives. Hanlon held no group officer post; he was a backbench Reform councillor throughout. His departure takes the group to 21 seats and brings the running total of original-cohort departures to nine of the twenty-eight elected on 1 May 2025 (Cornwall Council ModernGov).
24 May 2026 — Parsonage on the coalition veto. In a public Facebook comment thread, Rob Parsonage — Reform's Cornwall group leader from May to October 2025, who left the party in late October, co-founded CING, and crossed to the Conservatives in February 2026 — replies to a commenter blaming “other parties” for Reform's failure to take control of the council: “No, Head office prevented me from forming a coalition with Independents.” It is the first on-record statement we have identified from the person who led Reform's 2025 negotiations that the failure to assemble a working majority that summer was directed from London rather than chosen locally. The admission echoes Parsonage's separate November 2025 claim — reported above by East Devon Watch — that members were instructed by central party via WhatsApp to oppose all renewable energy planning applications “whatever their merit.” Cornwall Political Watch has not independently verified which Independents Parsonage was in negotiations with, when, or on what terms; this paragraph is reported here as Parsonage's claim. The original Facebook thread is here; a screenshot of the relevant comments is held on file.
Two further names appear repeatedly in Cornwall Political Watch's own dossier research as central to the operational dispute, but do not appear by name in any published Cornwall reporting consulted for this investigation. They are recorded here on the basis of CPW's own primary research and are presented separately for transparency. Paul Mills previously appeared in this section; he was named in published reporting in November 2025 and is now treated as a publicly-identified figure in the body above.
Per CPW dossier research, Young — a former gamekeeper from Glasgow with near-zero public profile — relays directives between national HQ and regional / county organisers. Not named in any Cornwall-specific published reporting.
Per CPW dossier research, the replacement branch chair installed in autumn 2025 after Roger Tarrant was removed. Published reporting refers to this person only as 'an unknown' parachuted in.
Cornwall Political Watch is publishing these names in good faith based on its own research. If either of the two believes the information here is inaccurate, they are invited to contact us via the contact page and we will promptly investigate and correct.
Cornwall Council's standards process has, in the same twelve-month window, recorded 10 code-of-conduct cases involving Reform UK Cornwall councillors. Most ended in a finding of no breach, but two are substantively serious. None have been reported on by news media.
| Reference | Councillor | Ward | Severity | Outcome | Date decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCN100 101 25 26 | Peter Channon | Hayle West | Serious | Upheld | 5 Dec 2025 |
| CCN107 25 26 | Steve Trevelyan | Roche & Bugle | Serious | Referred | 23 Oct 2025 |
| CCN054 & 56 24 25 | Steve Trevelyan | Roche & Bugle | Moderate | No action | — |
| CCN160 25 26 | Bruce Craze | Four Lanes, Beacon & Troon | Minor | No breach | 10 Feb 2026 |
| CCN15625 26 | Elaine Kist | St Stephen-In-Brannel | Minor | No breach | 3 Feb 2026 |
| CCN131 25 26 | Steve Trevelyan | Roche & Bugle | Minor | Dismissed | 17 Dec 2025 |
| CCN119 25 26 | Peter Channon | Hayle West | Minor | Dismissed | 1 Dec 2025 |
| CCN108 25 26 | Cliff Crawford | Illogan & Portreath | Minor | No breach | 6 Nov 2025 |
| CCN050 25 26 | Richard Barker | St Newlyn East, Cubert & Goonhavern | Minor | No breach | 6 Jun 2025 |
| CCN033 25 26 | Peter Channon | Hayle West | Minor | No breach | 27 May 2025 |
Curtis Mellows's stated complaints — bullying and harassment within Reform Cornwall, allegedly raised internally and “ignored both regionally and nationally” before his removal — are not reflected in any Cornwall Council standards committee record we can identify. Internal-party complaints would not, in any event, generate council standards records.
Three things to watch.
The aftermath of the 19 May 2026 AGM. Roger Tarrant had predicted on 21 April, on his way out, both further defections from Reform Cornwall and a leadership challenge against Paul Ashton. At the AGM, the deputy vacancy was filled when Richard Barker was elected unopposed as the sole applicant; no public leadership challenge to Ashton materialised. Whether the appointment settles or reignites the group's internal arguments is the question the rest of 2026 will answer.
The by-elections. Christine Parsonage's seat was held by Reform in December 2025 (St Columb Minor & Colan, Heinz Glanville). Kevin Towill's seat was retained, narrowly, by Reform on 23 April 2026 (Newquay Porth & Tretherras, Lyndon Harrison) — but the Greens came within 116 votes. Any further Reform councillor resigning their seat (rather than the party) opens another by-election.
The serious conduct cases. Peter Channon's upheld breach (5 December 2025) and Steve Trevelyan's referred case (23 October 2025) sit in the formal council record. The Standards Committee's options on a referred case include censure, training requirements and reporting to the council. None of this has been reported on in news media. Cornwall Council's standards process is the legitimate route for accountability on member conduct, and its decisions are public records.
The most recent Reform UK Cornwall reporting indexed by Cornwall Political Watch — by-elections, defections, leadership changes — that continues this account beyond what's documented above.
cornwalllive.com
Cornwall councillor called 'complete plonker' demands apology from leader - Cornwall Live
A Reform UK Cornwall councillor has demanded a public apology from the Liberal Democrat council leader who called him "a complete plonker" during a dispute over Cornish Language Strategy spending.
cornwalllive.com
Cornwall Council leader calls Reform councillor 'complete plonker' over Cornish language comments - Cornwall Live
Cornwall Council's leader publicly insulted a Reform UK councillor who had questioned public spending on the council's ten-year Cornish Language Strategy.
cornwalllive.com
Warning that Labour's planning reforms will impact badly for Cornwall - Cornwall Live
Cornwall Council's planning committee has recommended the council leader write to the housing secretary expressing concerns about Labour's proposed national scheme of planning delegation.
cornwalllive.com
Reform UK councillor questions public benefit of learning Cornish - Cornwall Live
A Reform UK councillor challenged Cornwall Council's £170,000-a-year Cornish Language Strategy 2026-2036, questioning whether it reflected broader public priorities or only language advocates.
cornwalllive.com
Bid to shine a 'very big spotlight' on what Cornwall can offer the rest of the world - Cornwall Live
Cornwall Council's corporate finance committee endorsed the early stages of an International Strategy aimed at raising Cornwall's global profile, attracting inward investment, and boosting tourism and student appeal.
cornwalllive.com
Yet another Reform UK councillor in Cornwall leaves the party - Cornwall Live
Another Reform UK Cornwall councillor has left the party, reducing their representation from 28 to 21 members in just over a year.
Coverage from cornwalllive.com, devonlive.com, plymouthherald.co.uk. May not be exhaustive.
Individual dossiers on the figures named throughout this account.
Regional Director, South West
Paul Mills
The Devon-based party official Groves names on tape as the man who decided to install Michell.
Campaign Manager & County Organiser
Andrea Lovett
From a 28-seat election triumph to organising the whole of Cornwall alone after the West post was abolished.
Vice Chair, CRH branch
Alison Groves
The dominant voice on the Highwayman recording — now Vice Chair under the man she objected to.
Chair, CRH branch
Nathan Michell
Appointed without a member vote — and trailing a record of public-path obstruction.
See also: the parent investigation (command chain & org chart) and the defections list.
This investigation draws on local newspaper reporting (Tindle group: Cornish Times, Voice, The Post, Holsworthy Today), Cornwall Reports, CornishStuff, ITV News West Country, BBC Cornwall, GB News, Hits Radio / Hello Rayo Cornwall, Radio Newquay, Yahoo / Cornwall Live, Left Foot Forward, The London Economic, The New World, East Devon Watch, Dorset Eye, Byline Times, MarkPack, Companies House, Cornwall Council's own democracy.cornwall.gov.uk records, and Cornwall Political Watch's own dossier research. Every concrete claim above is linked to its source inline.
Methodology. All factual claims about resignations, defections, by-elections and leadership changes are sourced to a published article, a Cornwall Council record, or — for the Highwayman recording — the recording itself. Allegations made by named individuals (e.g. WhatsApp instructions, internal bullying complaints) are clearly attributed to the speaker and not asserted as fact. Names appearing only in Cornwall Political Watch's own dossier research are sectioned separately and flagged in-line.
Audio recording. The original recording from The Highwayman, Dobwalls, on 18 October 2025 is in Cornwall Political Watch's possession and embedded above. The same recording was supplied anonymously by email to the Cornwall Local Democracy Reporting Service in October 2025; subsequent reporting in Cornwall Live, Yahoo, Dorset Eye and others derives from that same artefact.
CSV exports of councillors, conduct cases and decisions, plus AI story leads and a citation guide, are available on the press toolkit page. The audio recording above is also embedded with a synced transcript and click-to-seek timestamps.
If you believe any information on this page is inaccurate, please contact us via the contact page. We will promptly investigate and correct any errors.