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Doris Ansari
OBE JP
Chairman of Cornwall County Council
In office
2005 – 31 March 2009
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Leader of the Opposition, Cornwall Council
In office
15 June 2009 – May 2011
Preceded byPosition established
Councillor for Truro Tregolls
In office
4 June 2009 – 2 May 2013
Preceded byDivision created
Succeeded byLoic Rich
Member of Cornwall County Council
In office
1980 – 31 March 2009
Member of Carrick District Council
In office
1973 – 1 April 2009
Succeeded byCouncil abolished
Member of Truro City Council
In office
1971 – by 2013
Personal details
BornDoris Martyna Ashurst
(1941-05-18) 18 May 1941 (age 84)
Ince-in-Makerfield, Lancashire, England
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Other political
affiliations		Liberal
SDP–Liberal Alliance
Spouse
Asadullah Ansari
​
(m. 1960)​
Children3
OccupationPolitician

Doris Martyna Ansari OBE JP (née Ashurst; born 18 May 1941)[1] is a former Liberal Democrat politician from Cornwall and Chairman of Cornwall County Council from 2005 to 2009.[2][3] She was then opposition leader on Cornwall Council from 2009 until she stood down in 2011.[4]

Early life

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As Doris Ashurst, Ansari was born in Ince-in-Makerfield, Lancashire, on 18 May 1941, the daughter of John Ashurst and his wife Maggie Birch. In 1960, she married Asadullah Ansari in Farnworth. By 1962, they were living in Redruth, Cornwall, where their three children were born in the 1960s.[1][5]

Political career

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Cornish politics

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Ansari was first elected to Truro City Council in 1971,[6] and to Carrick District Council when it was formed in 1973, standing as a Liberal.[7] In 1976, Ansari was narrowly defeated by Kingsley Smith in the election to be deputy mayor of Truro.[8] This was described as "a direct snub" by another councillor due to the custom of electing "the senior councillor in line for the honour", which was Ansari, and because she had topped the poll in the recent elections to the council.[8] This was compounded by the fact that the deputy mayor would be the automatic choice for mayor during the city's centenary celebrations in 1977, when a visit by Queen Elizabeth II was expected.[8] Ansari was instead made mayor of Truro in 1978, with her husband Asad Ansari as her consort.[9] During her tenure, she oversaw and signed Truro's twinning agreement with Morlaix, Brittany,[10] as well as receiving Margaret Thatcher during her visit to the city in the run-up to the 1979 general election.[11]

She was elected to Cornwall County Council in 1980.[6] In the 1983 elections, Ansari stood as a Liberal Alliance candidate for seats on Truro City Council (in the Truro Boscawen ward), Carrick District Council (in the Truro Boscawen ward), and Cornwall County Council (in a by-election for the Truro West ward).[12] She was successful in all three elections, polling 2202 votes in the county council contest.[13]

In 1987, while she was chair of Cornwall County Council's planning and employment committee, Ansari was shortlisted to be the Liberal candidate at the Truro by-election after the death of incumbent Liberal MP David Penhaligon;[14] Matthew Taylor was eventually selected as the candidate and won the by-election.[15]

She was the County Council's vice-chair from 1995 to 1997 and its chair from 2005 until its abolition in 2009.[3] Ansari also held the post of Portfolio Holder for Education for a period.[16][17] She was criticised for not including Cornish issues in the education curriculum, which she said would be "dangerous" and "put Cornwall on the road to the Balkans".[18] Ansari was awarded an OBE in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to the community in Cornwall.[19][20]

After the establishment of the unitary Cornwall Council, Ansari was elected by the Truro Tregolls division and became opposition leader and leader of the Liberal Democrats on the council from 2009 to 2011.[4][21] In April 2011, she announced she would be standing down as Liberal Democrat leader having been in local government for 40 years.[4][22] She did not contest the 2013 election, being succeeded by Loic Rich.[23] By the time of her retirement, Ansari was one of the longest serving members of the council.[24] She is not listed among Truro City Council members on the council website as of May 2025.[25]

Regional and national politics

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Ansari was a member on several regional and national bodies throughout her career including the South West Regional Arts Council,[26] the Milk and Dairies Tribunal,[27] and the South West Rural Development Agency.[28][29]

European politics

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In 2003 and 2004, Ansari chaired the Committee on Social Cohesion of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and was a rapporteur for Congress reports.[30][31] She was also a British representative to the Chamber of Regions at its 11th session in 2004.[32]

Ansari was made a UK delegate to the European Committee of the Regions from 2008 to fill seats left vacant during the term of office which ended in 2010.[33] She was renominated by the Local Government Association for the 2010–2015 term, but served only until 2013.[34][35] She was Vice-President of the ALDE Group on the Committee between 2012 and 2013.[36][37]

Electoral history

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2009 Cornwall Council election

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This section is transcluded from Truro Tregolls (electoral division). (edit | history)
2009 election: Truro Tregolls[38]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Doris Ansari 531 41.2
Conservative Jacqui Butler 348 27.0
Mebyon Kernow Loic Rich 293 22.7
Green Lindsay Southcombe 108 8.4
Majority 183 14.2
Majority 10 0.8
Turnout 1290 33.2
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

1979 Carrick District Council election

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This section is transcluded from Moresk (electoral division). (edit | history)
1979 election: Moresk[39]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative G. Smitherman Unopposed
Liberal D. Ansari Unopposed
Majority N/A
Total votes N/A
Turnout N/A
Conservative win (new seat)
Liberal win (new seat)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Doris Ashurst" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007, Ince 8c 243; "Asadullah Ansari" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 Farnworth 10c 386, Spouse: Doris Ashurst
  2. ^ "Head of education retires". Falmouth Packet. 3 April 2006. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the County Council". Cornwall County Council. Archived from the original on 6 April 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "MPS PAY TRIBUTE TO LOCAL CHAMPION DORIS ANSARI". Truro and Falmouth Liberal Democrats. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Cornwall International Male Choral Festival Ltd Company number 04509936 Filing history : 18 April 2006 New director appointed, company-information.service.gov.uk, accessed 6 June 2022
  6. ^ a b Graham Smith (25 October 2010). "Doris Ansari banned from press conference". BBC Radio Devon. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  7. ^ Colin Rallings; Michael Thrasher. "Carrick District Council Election Results 1973–2007" (PDF). Elections Centre. Plymouth University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Mike Trevail (13 May 1976). "Mayor Vote - Was It Valid?". The West Briton. p. 1. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "I Will Show That Truro Cares, Says New Mayor". The West Briton. 25 May 1978. p. 5. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Gerald Phillipps (19 March 1979). "Twins put a seal on 'marriage'". The West Briton. p. 3. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "600 supporters serenade Mrs Thatcher". The West Briton. 12 March 1979. p. 3. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Battle of ballot box". The West Briton. 11 April 1983. p. 1. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Doris romps home". The West Briton. 9 May 1983. p. 5. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Dennis Johnson (7 February 1987). "Liberals' Truro list". The Guardian. p. 3. ProQuest 186724579. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  15. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  16. ^ Jon Mills (2014). "The Decline and Revival of the Cornish Language" (PDF). Kent Academic Repository. University of Kent. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  17. ^ Rhisiart Tal-e-bot (Spring–Summer 2003). "Cornish Pupils Refused Right to Record their 'Cornish ethnicity'" (PDF). Carn (121). Celtic League: 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  18. ^ Jon Mills (2010). "Genocide and Ethnocide: The Suppression of the Cornish Language". In Partridge, John (ed.). Interfaces in Language. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 9781443823999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  19. ^ "NEW YEAR HONOURS". The Independent. 31 December 1999. Archived from the original on 9 December 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  20. ^ "O.B.E." (PDF). The London Gazette. 31 December 1999. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  21. ^ Stephen Ivall (15 June 2009). "Cornwall council Lib-Dem leader elected". The Falmouth Packet. Archived from the original on 23 February 2025. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  22. ^ "Cornwall Council opposition leader to step down". BBC. 28 April 2011. Archived from the original on 1 December 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  23. ^ "Election results for Truro Tregolls Cornwall Council elections – Thursday, 2nd May, 2013". Cornwall Council. 2 May 2013. Archived from the original on 1 December 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  24. ^ Steven Morris (22 July 2011). "Cornwall moves toward its own bank holiday". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  25. ^ "Councillors". Truro City Council. Truro City Council. May 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  26. ^ "Annual Review 2005" (PDF). Arts Council England. p. 171. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  27. ^ "AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD Public Bodies". Hansard. 16 February 1994. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  28. ^ "Regional Development Agencies: Membership". Hansard. 23 March 1999. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  29. ^ "Learning and Skills Council Local Strategic Plan 2002–05 Somerset" (PDF). Institute of Education. University College London. March 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  30. ^ "DRAFT AGENDA OF THE SPRING SESSION OF THE CHAMBER OF REGIONS – CPR/SP (9) OJ 1 prov". Council of Europe. 20 March 2003. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  31. ^ "DRAFT AGENDA – CPR/SA (11) OJ 1 prov (last version: 26/10/04)". Council of Europe. 4 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  32. ^ Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (6 January 2005). Official Report of Debates: 11th Session, 25–27 May 2004. Council of Europe. ISBN 9789287156068. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  33. ^ "Council Decision of 7 April 2008 appointing seven UK members and seven UK alternate members to the Committee of the Regions (2008/310/EC)" (PDF). Legislation.gov.uk. 7 April 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  34. ^ "Appointments Independent of the Board Process" (PDF). Local Government Association. 18 October 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  35. ^ "Committee of the Regions welcomes new UK members". European Committee of the Regions. 26 March 2014. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  36. ^ "What have the Brits ever done for us?!". Renew Europe. 31 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 July 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  37. ^ "Movers & Shakers". Politico Europe. 25 July 2012. Archived from the original on 9 August 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  38. ^ "Election results for Truro Tregolls Cornwall Council elections - Thursday, 4th June, 2009". Cornwall Council. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  39. ^ "Carrick District Council Election Results 1973-2007" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
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