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Vaughan Gething

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The Right Honourable
Vaughan Gething
MS
Official portrait, 2024
First Minister of Wales
Assumed office
20 March 2024
MonarchCharles III
Preceded byMark Drakeford
Succeeded byTBC
Leader of Welsh Labour
Assumed office
16 March 2024
DeputyCarolyn Harris
Preceded byMark Drakeford
Succeeded byTBC
Minister for the Economy
In office
13 May 2021 – 20 March 2024
First MinisterMark Drakeford
Preceded byKen Skates
Succeeded byJeremy Miles
Minister for Health and Social Services
In office
19 May 2016 – 13 May 2021
First MinisterCarwyn Jones
Mark Drakeford
Preceded byMark Drakeford
Succeeded byThe Baroness Morgan of Ely
Deputy Minister for Health
In office
11 September 2014 – 19 May 2016[1]
First MinisterCarwyn Jones
MinisterMark Drakeford
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byRebecca Evans
Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty
In office
26 June 2013[2]– 11 September 2014
First MinisterCarwyn Jones
MinisterJeffrey Cuthbert
Member of the Senedd
forCardiff South and Penarth
Assumed office
6 May 2011
Preceded byLorraine Barrett
Majority10,606 (29.2%)
Personal details
Born15 March 1974
Lusaka,Zambia[3]
NationalityWelsh
Political partyLabour and Co-operative
SpouseMichelle Gething
Alma materAberystwyth UniversityUniversity of Cardiff
OccupationSolicitor, trade unionist
Signature

Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething(born 1974) is a WelshLabourandCo-operative Partypolitician who is currently serving asFirst Minister of Walesandleader of Welsh Laboursince 2024, making him the first black[4]leader of any European country.[5][6]Gething previously served as theMinister for Health and Social Servicesfrom2016to 2021 andMinister for the Economyfrom 2021 to 2024. He has been theMember of the Senedd(MS) forCardiff South and Penarthsince2011.

Born inZambia,Gething studied atBeaminster Comprehensive and Sixth Formin Dorset, followed byAberystwyth University,where he graduated with adegreein Law in 1999; he then attended theCardiff Law School,at theUniversity of Cardiff.Having completed his training as asolicitorwith thetrade unionfirmThompsonsinCardiffin 2001, Gething chose to specialise inemployment law.Gething joined theLabour Partywhen he was 17. He contestedMid and West Walesfor Labour in theinaugural electionsto theNational Assembly for Walesin 1999, but was not elected. He served as acouncillorfrom 2004 to 2008, representingButetown electoral wardonCardiff Council.In the2011 National Assembly for Wales election,Gething was selected as the Welsh Labour candidate for the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency in theSenedd.He increased the Labour vote with a swing of 12.5%. At the following2016 election,Gething was re-elected.

Gething served inMark Drakeford's government as Minister for Health; his tenure was dominated by theCOVID-19 pandemic.In March 2024, Gething won theWelsh Labour leadership electionto replace Drakeford and become First Minister. Followinglosing a vote of no confidence motiontabled by theWelsh Conservativesand criticism over a campaign donation of£200,000, and the resignation of four cabinet minsters, in July 2024 Gething announced his pending resignation as First Minister, which will formally take effect when his successor is elected in thenext Welsh Labour leadership election.

Early life

Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething[7]was born on 15 March 1974 inLusaka,Zambia,[8][9][10]where his father, awhiteWelshveterinarian fromOgmore-by-SeainGlamorgan,met his mother, who is a black Zambian and was working as a chicken farmer.[11]Gething describes his father as "a white Welsh economic migrant".[11]When he was two years old, he moved toAbergavennyinMonmouthshire, Wales,with his family, which also included three brothers and a sister.[12][11]In Monmouthshire, his family experiencedracismwhen an employer withdrew a job offer to Gething's father upon seeing the rest of his family.[12][13]Speaking of the incident, Gething said: "They said, 'Come back with your family and we'll sign everything up', but he walked in with my mother, and a trail of brown boys, and the job offer got withdrawn".[13]His father eventually found work inDorset, England,where Gething was brought up.[12]

Gething studied atBeaminster Comprehensive and Sixth Formin Dorset, followed byAberystwyth University,where he graduated with adegreein Law in 1999;[14]he then attended theUniversity of Cardiff Law School,University of Wales.[11][15]During his academic career, Gething became President ofAberystwyth University Guild of Students,as well as the first black president of theNational Union of Students Wales.[11][16][17]

Professional career

Having completed his training as asolicitorwith thetrade unionfirmThompsonsinCardiffin 2001, Gething chose to specialise inemployment law.He became a partner in Thompsons in 2007.[15]

In 2008, at the age of 34, Gething became the youngest President ofWales TUC,also becoming the first black person to serve in the role.[18][19]

Political career

A video of Gething representing the First Minister in a COVID-19 press conference in January 2021

Gething joined theLabour Partywhen he was 17, to campaign in the1992 UK general election.[11]He contestedMid and West Walesfor Labour in theinaugural electionsto theNational Assembly for Walesin 1999, but was not elected.[20]

He served as acouncillorfrom 2004 to 2008, representingButetown electoral wardonCardiff Council,having been elected with a majority of two votes over candidateBetty Campbell.[15][21]Following the election, Campbell sent a complaint letter to Cardiff Council alleging that Gething had infringed election rules by handing out leaflets to voters as they entered polling stations and telling them how to vote.[22]Campbell initially intended to have the vote re-examined in theHigh Court,but abandoned this because of the estimated cost of £12,000.[23]

In the2011 National Assembly for Wales election,Gething was selected as the Welsh Labour candidate for theCardiff South and Penarthconstituency in theSenedd,afterLorraine Barrett,who had represented Cardiff South and Penarth since the Senedd's creation in 1999, had announced her intention to stand down from her role. On 5 May 2011, Gething increased the Labour vote with a swing of 12.5%. At 13,814, his share of the vote was over 50%, giving him a majority of 6,259 over theWelsh Conservative Partycandidate, Ben Gray, placed second.[24][25]At the following2016 election,Gething was re-elected.[26]

Following the 2016 election,First MinisterCarwyn Jonespromoted Gething to theWelsh Cabinet,nominating him asCabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport.[27]

Gething did not supportJeremy Corbynin either the2015or2016 Labour Party leadership electionagainst challengerOwen Smith;however, he stated in a 2017BBC Radio Walesinterview that he would still like to see Corbyn as prime minister, saying quote, "I want a Labour prime minister – and that means Jeremy Corbyn being prime minister. [...] I don't think it matters whether I'm a fan or not – it matters whether I think he can do the job in running the country".[28][29]

In August 2017, Gething walked away in the middle of an interview onITV Wales,when questioned by journalist James Crichton-Smith over his decision not to hold apublic inquiryintoAbertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board,following allegations that an employee had sexually assaulted vulnerable patients.[30]

Gething, alongsideEluned MorganandMark Drakeford,was one of the three contenders in the2018 election for the leadership of Welsh Labour,but was defeated by the latter candidate. Drakeford subsequently re-appointed Gething in the Welsh Cabinet, by nominating him as Health Minister, with the position renamed asMinister for Health and Social Services.[31]

In January 2020, he criticised Corbyn and his failure to tackleantisemitism in the Labour Party.[32]He endorsed Corbyn's successorKeir Starmer.

On 13 May 2021, Gething was appointed as newMinister for the Economy,replacingKen Skates.[33]

Minister for Health and management of the COVID-19 pandemic

Gething served as the Welsh Minister for Health and Social Services during theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020 and 2021.

On 12 March 2020, despite a steady surge in the number of confirmedCOVID-19cases in Wales and other sporting events getting cancelled, Gething resisted calls to postpone arugby unionmatch betweenWalesandScotlandat thePrincipality Stadium,which was due to be sold-out with 74,000 spectators.[34]On the following day, theWelsh Rugby Unionannounced that the match was officially cancelled.[35]Gething justified his decision in a BBC Radio Wales interview, saying "The medical advice about the risk to people going to the rugby didn't change. What did change was the fact that the rest of sporting world decided that, regardless of that advice, they wanted to put off events".[36]

On 22 April 2020, Gething was caught swearing about fellow Labour MSJenny Rathboneduring avirtual sessionof the Senedd onZoom.After Rathbone had asked the Minister a few questions about the Welsh Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic,he failed to mute his microphoneas he told an unknown person, "What the fuck is the matter with her?".[37][38]Some undisclosed Labour MSs contacted by BBC Wales said they were also "very angry" over Gething's actions.[37]

In May of the same year, Gething was reportedly photographed by aSunreporter eating chips with his young son in a local park, prompting criticism by those who suggested he was breaking the COVID-19 restrictions he had imposed himself. Gething denied the accusations, and the Welsh Government stated nothing he had done contravened such regulations.[39]

Gething was questioned at theCOVID-19 Inquiryin July 2023, due to his former role as Wales' Minister for Health during the COVID-19 pandemic; in his deposition, he admitted that he had never read a report onExercise Cygnus,a simulation exercise to estimate the impact of a hypotheticalinfluenza pandemicon the UK population.[40]

2024 Labour leadership election

Main article:February–March 2024 Welsh Labour leadership election
Gething with his predecessorMark Drakefordin 2024

In December 2023, Gething became one of two candidates in theWelsh Labour leadership electionto replace Drakeford as party leader and Wales' First Minister.[41]

On 16 January, Gething and the other candidate,Jeremy Miles,took part in ahustings eventto get the nomination from the trade unionUnite.Miles' team were then informed of a rule requiring that only people who had been "lay officials" could be nominated. Gething therefore received the nomination.[42]Miles claimed he was unfairly blocked from the union nomination.[43]An unnamed Unite official was quoted by BBC News as saying that the nomination of Gething was a "shocking mess".[44]Journalist Martin Shipton later uncovered that Gething had only joined Unite a few months beforehand.[45]

On 16 March, it was announced that Gething had won the election with 51.7% of the vote, thus becoming the leader of Welsh Labour, and would be the new First Minister of Wales.[46][47]

First minister (2024)

Further information:Gething governmentand2024 Welsh government crisis
Gething beingsworn inas first minister on 20 March 2024

Gething was officially nominated as First Minister by the Senedd on 20 March 2024,[48][49]and announced his cabinet the following day.[50][51]In the process, he became the first black First Minister of Wales,[46]as well as the first black leader of any European country.[47][49]His appointment toHis Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Councilwas announced on 28 March 2024 as part of the2024 Special Honours.[52]He was sworn in as a member of the of the privy council on 10 April 2024 atBuckingham Palace.[53]entitling him to thehonorific prefix"The Right Honourable"for life.

During the inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic response, Gething stated that he had not deliberately deleted any messages from his phone.[54]On 7 May,Nation.Cymruobtained text messages from Gething in a Welsh Government group chat, in which he said "I'm deleting the messages in this group. They can be captured in an FOI [Freedom of Information request] and I think we are all in the right place on the choice being made."[54]Gething denied allegations ofperjuryput to him in byRhun ap Iorwerthin First Minister's Questions the same day, describing the allegations as 'obnoxious'.[55]A few days later, he removedHannah Blythynfrom her role asMinister for Social Partnership,alleging that she was the leak of the text messages.[56]She denied this.[57]Blythyn was replaced bySarah Murphyon 17 May.[58]

Gething withKeir Starmer,July 2024

On 17 May,Rhun ap Iorwerthannounced thatPlaid Cymruhad withdrawn from theco-operation agreementwith Welsh Labour.[59]On 5 June, after just 78 days as First Minister, Gething faced a non-bindingvote of no-confidencein him as First Minister, tabled by theWelsh Conservatives,in which he lost by a margin of 29 votes to 27.[60]Despite losing the no confidence vote, Gething announced he would not resign as First Minister on 8 June.[61]However, on 16 July he announced his resignation[62][10]an hour after ministersMick Antoniw,Julie James,Lesley GriffithsandJeremy Milesstepped down from their posts.[63]His resignation will formally take effect when his successor is elected in thenext Welsh Labour leadership election,and will make him the shortest serving First Minister since the role was created, a record previously held by Alun Michael.[64][65]

Personal life

Gething and his wife Michelle live inPenarth,where he has lived since 2011.[66]He is a member of thetrade unionsGMB,UNISONandUnite.[18][67]

References

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Senedd
Preceded by Member of the SeneddforCardiff South and Penarth
2011–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Deputy Minister for Health
2014–2016 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Health and Social Services
2016–2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for the Economy
2021–2024 		Succeeded by
Preceded by First Minister of Wales
2024–present 		Incumbent
Trade union offices
Preceded by President of theWales TUC
2008–2009 		Succeeded by
Paul O'Sheay
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