Evidence-first investigation
Reform UK won 28 of Cornwall Council's 87 seats on 1 May 2025 — Britain's biggest unitary breakthrough. By July 2026 ten of those councillors were gone: nine had left the party, the last of them Bruce Craze, and one had died in office. 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 20 today — the chronological seat-change record.
Inspect chart ↓
Evidence · audio
The 18 October 2025 audio that triggered four 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. Fifteen months later, ten of those councillors are gone — nine who left the party and one who died in office. 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 since they were elected in May 2025.
| 1 May 2025 | 29 July 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reform group on Cornwall Council | 28 | 20 | −8 net (9 left, 1 died in office, 2 by-election wins) |
| 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 (listed on council profile, 6 Oct 2026) | 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 |
 | 29 July 2026 | Bruce Craze | Four Lanes, Beacon & Troon | Backbencher | Restore Britain · Read resignation speech → |
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 supposes that it “must have been” Reform UK Regional Director Paul Mills 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:
Nine 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.Bruce Craze
Four Lanes, Beacon & Troon
Restore BritainSix 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 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.
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.
29 July 2026 — Craze to Restore Britain. Bruce Craze (Four Lanes, Beacon & Troon) resigns from the Reform UK group and joins Restore Britain, becoming Cornwall's second Restore Britain councillor alongside Roger Tarrant, who defected on 21 April. Craze held no group office; he sat as a backbencher on the Licensing Act Committee and its sub-committees. In his resignation statement he says he was “proud to stand and campaign for Reform UK, but the party which I stood for no longer resembles the party which I sit with today,” describing the Cornwall group as “bitterly divided, with councillors putting their egos and aspirations before the people of Cornwall” and as a group that “pushes forward motions which have not been thought through regarding costings or workability, simply anything that looks good for social media.” Reform group leader Paul Ashton responds that the resignation “comes shortly after he was called into a meeting with the whip and deputy leader to discuss his ongoing poor performance as a councillor and lack of commitment to Reform UK generally,” and says Craze has betrayed his residents (Cornwall Live). Ashton's account of the meeting and of Craze's performance is reported here as the group leader's claim; Cornwall Political Watch has not independently verified it. The departure takes the Reform group to 20 seats and brings the running total of original-cohort departures to ten of the twenty-eight elected on 1 May 2025. Cornwall Council's member index now records Restore Britain as a sitting group with Tarrant as Group Leader and Craze as his deputy — a group of two in which both councillors hold office (Cornwall Council member index). The statement is set out in full on the Craze resignation page, and the wider record in his dossier.
Seventeen months after the election, the Reform group — still the largest opposition group on the council — has not filled its shadow cabinet, a Local Democracy Reporting Service piece in Cornwall Live reported. Opposition councillors and Reform's own leader gave opposing accounts of why.
The charge
An opposition councillor, unnamed in the report, said the group had filled “five out of nine” posts “and the rest are refusing,” and that Reform was “just sitting on their hands, doing nothing.”
Labour group leader Kate Ewert said Reform is the official opposition and “should be stepping up and doing the job that people in Cornwall elected them to do.” Council leader Leigh Frost said the departures from the group had “caused a massive distraction to council business.”
The response
Group leader Paul Ashton called the accusations “absolute nonsense.” He acknowledged that “we haven't been able to fill all the posts,” and said some councillors were being trained first “so that when they do step into the role they will be equipped, trained and able to do it. Some of them have not done this before, so we're being very cautious. There's no other reason except for that.”
He said the group does most of its work through committees, and that “several motions” would come to full council in the next few months.
Against Cornwall Council's own published record.
Ashton: Yelland is vice-chair of the corporate finance committee
Jack Yelland — vice-chair since June 2026 (ModernGov).
Ashton: “active on eight committees myself”
His council profile lists eight current appointments — full council itself, six committees and boards as a member, and one as a substitute (ModernGov).
Unnamed councillor: “five out of nine” shadow posts filled
The figure comes from one unnamed source. Cornwall Political Watch has not independently verified it.
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 recorded 9 code-of-conduct cases involving councillors now in the Reform UK group. 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 |
| CCN15625 26 | Elaine Kist | St Stephen-In-Brannel | — | No breach | 3 Feb 2026 |
| CCN131 25 26 | Steve Trevelyan | Roche & Bugle | — | Dismissed | 17 Dec 2025 |
| CCN119 25 26 | Peter Channon | Hayle West | — | Dismissed | 1 Dec 2025 |
| CCN108 25 26 | Cliff Crawford | Illogan & Portreath | — | No breach | 6 Nov 2025 |
| CCN050 25 26 | Richard Barker | St Newlyn East, Cubert & Goonhavern | — | No breach | 6 Jun 2025 |
| CCN033 25 26 | Peter Channon | Hayle West | — | No breach | 27 May 2025 |
| CCN054 & 56 24 25 | Steve Trevelyan | Roche & Bugle | — | No action | — |
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.
Four things to watch.
The leadership. Roger Tarrant had predicted on 21 April, on his way out, both further defections from Reform Cornwall and a leadership challenge against Paul Ashton. Ashton is still listed as group leader on the council's member index as at 6 October 2026, and Richard Barker now holds the deputy post. Whether that pairing settles or reignites the group's internal arguments is the question the rest of 2026 will answer.
The shadow cabinet. On 6 October 2026 Ashton said the remaining shadow posts would be filled once councillors had finished training, and that “several motions” would come to full council in the following months (above). Both can be checked against the council's published agendas and minutes, and the opposition record does so for every group by the same rule.
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
Reform UK accused of 'doing nothing' at Cornwall Council by other councillors - Cornwall Live
Opposition councillors accuse Cornwall Council's Reform UK group of inactivity after failing to fully form a shadow cabinet eighteen months post-election, which leader Paul Ashton denies.
cornwalllive.com
Mylor harbour 'illegal migrants' boat - MP and councillors react - Cornwall Live
Devon and Cornwall Police and the Home Office arrested several individuals, including two Albanian men, after a boat reportedly carrying migrants landed at Mylor Harbour.
cornwalllive.com
'Wind your necks in' councillors told over Reform UK resignations - Cornwall Live
Cornwall Council debated repeated reallocations of committee seats after several Reform UK councillors defected to other political groups, prompting a heated exchange between members.
cornwalllive.com
Reform UK councillor defends Facebook posts following complaints - Cornwall Live
Reform UK councillor Steve Trevelyan has defended controversial Facebook posts, including calling police "piggy bank" and using crude insults, after multiple complaints.
cornwalllive.com
By-election demand after Cornwall councillor jumps ship from Reform to Restore Britain - Cornwall Live
A Cornwall councillor's defection from Reform UK to Restore Britain has prompted a rival councillor to demand he resign and trigger a by-election.
cornwalllive.com
Cornwall Council is now £1.5 billion in debt - Cornwall Live
Cornwall Council faces £1.5 billion debt and a £22 million budget shortfall, prompting managers to find savings ahead of next year's budget.
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 who, Groves supposes on tape, "must have" decided to install Michell.
Campaign Manager & County Organiser
Andrea Lovett
From a 28-seat election triumph to a group of 20.
County Organiser, West Cornwall (Oct 2025)
Alison Groves
The dominant voice on the Highwayman recording.
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.