Why was Vaughan Gething forced to resign as Wales' First Minister?
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Vaughan Gething's resignation makes him Wales' shortest-ever serving first minister.
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In brief…
- Welsh Labour’s Vaughan Gething has resigned as party leader and as Wales’ first Minister after less than four months in the job.
- It comes after four members of his government - Mick Antoniw, Julie James, Lesley Griffiths, and Jeremy Miles - quit earlier in the day as pressure mounted on the party leader to step down.
- It was sparked by Gething's acceptance of a £200,000 donation from the Dauson Environmental Group, a firm owned by man who had been issued suspended sentences in 2013 and 2017 for waste crimes
Europe's first black leader
It was a long time coming for Vaughan Gething. He made history by becoming Wales' first Black first minister, and made it again for holding the role for the shortest-ever time..under four months.
Questions were hanging over his head for most of his leadership, largely due to a large donation from a company owned by a man with criminal charges.
But what eventually triggered his resignation? And what lies ahead for Wales, Labour and the future of the United Kingdom?
How did it happen?
Controversy first erupted when it emerged in February that Gething had accepted £200,000 in donations from the Dauson Environmental Group. The firm is owned by David John Neal, who was given two suspended prison sentences for illegally dumping waste and failing to remove it.
Despite this, Gething still accepted the cash. He has insisted that all the donations were declared to the Senedd, meaning no rules were broken.
And it didn’t stop Gething from winning the Welsh Labour leadership race the following month, becoming First Minister of Wales in March 2024.
But things took a turn after Plaid Cymru dropped its co-operation deal with Welsh Labour due to the concerns over the £200,000 donations.
What came next?
His acceptance of the cash continued to plague him, as later the Conservatives forced a vote of no confidence in the Senedd - the Welsh Parliament - which Gething lost in July.
Gething refused to resign, dismissing the motion as a "gimmick".
He also came under fire after it was revealed that he told a pandemic-era WhatsApp group of Welsh ministers to delete messages from the chat to avoid scrutiny.
Gething had alleged that Hannah Blythyn, minister for social partnership, leaked this, later sacking her.
The Conservatives went for Gething again over this, tabeling a motion in a bid to force him to publish the evidence he used to get rid of Blythyn.
Then when Welsh government members Mick Antoniw, Julie James, Lesley Griffiths, and Jeremy Miles resigned, the Welsh Labour leader finally caved.
What does all this mean? Here's what the News Agents say
Lewis Goodall says: "Gething's period as first minister has been deeply destabilising for the Labour Party in Wales.
"It's been deeply destabilising for the institution of the Senedd, which has had perhaps its most chequered period since it was created in the late 1990s as part of the devolution settlement."
The £200,000 donation he received for his leadership campaign has "dogged him" throughout that entire period, Goodall adds.
But Gething's links to the man with criminal offences to his name may go further.
Goodall explains: "In February last year, a subsidiary of his [David Neal's] main company received a £400,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales, during which time that fell under Gething's remit as economy minister, as he was then.
"So you can see that from the very beginning there was an accusation at the very least of a perception of a conflict of interest".
That never went away, Goodall notes.
Jon Sopel says: "How did he ever think that this would be alright?
"The perception of wrongdoing is so corrosive and the perception that you are self serving and being there because you like being there is really bad for politics".
Listen to the full discussion on The News Agents.
