Vaughan Gething has resigned as the First Minister of Wales after his hand was forced by the resignation of four Welsh ministers – who all made it clear that they could not work with him.
Mr Gething had been accused of making a series of misjudgements – starting with his leadership campaign when he accepted a donation of £200,000 from a company owned by a man previously convicted of environmental offences.
One of the four Ministers who resigned was Jeremy Miles – who Mr Gething defeated in the leadership campaign. The other three were Mick Antoniw, Julie James and Lesley Griffiths. All four said they could not continue while he was First Minister.
Mr Gething, 50, became the first Black leader of a European country, but has been under pressure since taking office.
This escalated when text messages were leaked to the press, where Mr Gething appeared to be discussing deleting messages that related to how the Welsh Government handled the Covid crisis. The first minister responded by sacking Hannah Blythyn, the minister for social partnership, alleging that she was the source of the leak.
Ms Blythyn has flatly denied this.
When the Conservatives called a no confidence motion concerning Mr Gething’s £200,000 campaign donation, the vote was lost when two Labour Members of Senedd, Lee Waters and Hannah Blythyn were unwell and did not vote.
Mr Gething refused to resign then but now faced another vote in the Senedd on Wednesday (tomorrow) after the Welsh Conservatives tabled a motion to try to compel him to publish the evidence he used to sack Hannah Blythyn.
In a statement, he said he had “taken the difficult decision to begin the process of stepping down as leader of the Welsh Labour Party and, as a result, First Minister” and will now discuss a timetable for the election of his successor.
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