VAUGHAN GETHING RESIGNS

Vaughan Gething has resigned as Welsh Labour leader and First Minister of Wales after just four months in the roles.  Gething had been dogged by corruption scandals from day one of his short tenure, albeit he continued to deny wrongdoing in his resignation speech.

Gething announced his decision after four members of his cabinet resigned on Tuesday and publicly called on him to go.  Mick Antoniw, Lesley Griffiths, Julie James and Jeremy Miles all quit and posted their resignation letters to social media.  Gething was left with little option.

In a four minute somewhat narcissistic resignation speech, Gething made clear that he had hoped the scandals would blow over:  "I had hoped that over the summer, a period of reflection, rebuilding and renewal could take place under my leadership.  I recognise now that this is not possible".  He then went on to list his supposed achievements, before flat out denying any misconduct:  "A growing assertion that some kind of wrongdoing has taken place has been pernicious, politically motivated and patently untrue".

Gething's full resignation speech can be seen below.

The main sticking point in Gething's tenure was his relationship with environmental convict David Neal, who had donated £200,000 to Gething during his leadership campaign.  Gething had also lobbied for Neal and his waste company in past dealings as a Welsh minister.  There were also awkward questions about deleted WhatsApp messages from Gething's phone during the period of the Covid scamdemic.

The resignation also reflects badly on Keir Starmer, the new PM having publicly backed Gething throughout.  Labour will now seek a third Welsh leader since the turn of the year with Jeremy Miles, who was narrowly defeated by Gething in March, an early favourite.

Amid the turmoil, Plaid Cymru called for a snap election two years ahead of schedule.

GETHING LOSES CONFIDENCE VOTE

Vaughan Gething has lost a no confidence vote at the Senedd, less than three months into his tenure as First Minister of Wales.  The motion passed 29-27, with two Labour Assembly Members absent through illness - one of whom being the minister Gething controversially sacked last month.  The Tory motion was passed with Plaid and Lib Dem support.  There were no abstentions.

Although the motion is non-binding and Gething has already indicated his intention to cling on, it will exponentially increase pressure on the scandal-hit leader.  Gething did himself no favours in the chamber during the debate, breaking down in tears as one of his colleagues spoke.  He then stood and gave a speech in which he tried to distract from his own corruption by attacking Westminster Tories.  This what-aboutery was followed by a desperate appeal to his former coalition partners Plaid Cymru not to take up sides with the dastardly Conservatives.  When the vote came, it was clear Plaid had ignored him.

Gething's desperation in the chamber - including those crocodile tears - will not have gone down well with Welsh voters, none of which have yet to cast a single ballot in favour of or against Gething's administration.  These were not the actions of a leader.

The First Minister also brazenly told the Senedd that he would 'not shy away' from ongoing questions about his dodgy donations from convict-businessman David Neal - this, despite his no show at a debate about this very topic only last month.  Gething is not only dishonest, he is shameless.

Awkward questions have also been raised about his WhatsApp messages from the period of the scamdemic, when he was health minister in Wales.  Gething has told the UK Covid Inquiry that all his WhatsApp messages were deleted during a 'security rebuild' in 2022.  During questioning he also threw his predecessor Mark Drakeford under the bus.  Drakeford had previously told the Senedd that he 'didn't use WhatApp' and yet Gething confirmed that he was in a WhatsApp group with none other than Mark Drakeford!

If Labour cannot be trusted in Wales, God help the rest of us when Starmer takes up residence in Downing Street next month...

GETHING NO SHOW SPEAKS VOLUMES

David Neal and Vaughan Gething: The convict and the politician

With Humza Yousaf on his way from power after just 13 months, attention has quickly refocused on Britain's other first minister.  Vaughan Gething has been at the Cymreig helm for just six weeks and an issue which dogged his leadership election campaign is being brought to the fore once again.

Gething received two hefty donations during that campaign, totalling £200,000, from a company run by convicted criminal David Neal.  Gething had previous dealings with Neal and his then company - Atlantic Recycling - dating back to at least 2016 when he was a Welsh government minister.  Neal had been convicted of illegally dumping waste on a conservation site in 2013 and ordered to clean up the mess, but Gething later repeatedly lobbied Wales' environmental regulator to suspend work on that site.

Neal was convicted again in 2017 for failing to clean up the site and Gething stepped in again a year later, writing to Natural Resources Wales on Neal's behalf.  Gething also stood for the Welsh Labour leadership later that same year and received a £38,000 donation from companies linked to Neal.  Something stinks, and it's not just David Neal's fly tipping!

Things are now complicated further by a planning application that has been put in by another of Mr Neal's ventures - Dauson Environmental Group.  It was in Dauson's name that the most recent donations of £200,000 were made to Gething's leadership campaign.  The size of the planning application, which is for a 'solar farm', would require Welsh government approval and as we know - Mr Gething is now the most senior figure in said government.  What's more, the money to fund the purchase of the site came from the Development Bank of Wales - a public body overseen at that time by none other than the Welsh minister for the economy, one Vaughan Gething!

With an obvious conflict of interest and a stench of corruption, the Welsh Conservatives tabled a debate in the Senedd that took place on Wednesday.  However, there was a notable absentee from said debate - the First Minister and the person at the centre of the debate no less!

Watch below as Tory leader Andrew RT Davies opens the debate by asking whether they 'should wait for the First Minister'.  He then reacts with dismay as he is told that Gething has not even provided a statement, much less actually show his face.

This is not the behaviour of a political leader responsible for governing a nation.  By refusing to attend and take responsibility for his actions, Gething has portrayed himself as a coward with something to hide.

During the debate, Gething was heavily criticised by one of his own colleagues.  Lee Waters remarked: "For me, this is not an issue of confidence, but it is an issue of conscience.  We look to our leaders to model behaviour we want to see, to reflect our nation and to set an example.  The first step to solving any problem is to acknowledge that there is a problem.  And it would not be a sign of weakness to say that it was a mistake to take the donation and, now all the facts are known, to give it back."

Waters is well known throughout Wales as the main architect of the despised anti-motorist 20mph scheme, so his diatribe in this instance did not carry the weight he may have hoped.  In any case, the Tory motion was defeated by 27 votes to 25.  Gething finally appeared in the dying minutes of the debate and did not speak.

Gething will face questions about his dealings with David Neal and it could yet prove his downfall.

GETHING REPLACES DRAKEFORD

Vaughan Gething has won the contest to become Labour's next leader in Wales, inheriting the role of First Minister in the process.  Gething narrowly defeated his opponent, education minister Jeremy Miles, with 51.7% of the vote.  Welsh Labour are very secretive about their membership numbers, so the exact number of votes was not released.  This was Gething's second punt at the leadership, having contested the previous leadership contest, in 2018.  Gething finished second of three candidates and some way behind the victor, Drakeford.

There was little to choose between the candidates, with both dedicated to the net zero plan to enslave humanity.  Both acknowledged the widely despised blanket 20mph policy during the campaign, but both stated they would not reverse it.  The war on the motorist in Wales will continue with pay per mile technology, to be implemented by the end of the decade.  There is nothing to suggest Gething will waive this policy either.

The media heralded Gething's victory as 'the first black leader of Wales', or 'the first black leader of a European country'.  Racist twaddle, which ignores the fact that Gething is the product of a Welsh father.  Born in Zambia and raised in Dorset, Gething joined the Labour party in 1992 and later studied law at Aberystwyth University.  Despite qualifying as a barrister, Gething decided to follow a career in politics.  He was an unsuccessful Labour candidate in the first Welsh Assembly (as it was then known) election in 1999.  He later became a councillor on Cardiff City Council, before successfully entering the Welsh Assembly in the 2011 election.

Gething would become a mainstay of the Welsh government, under the leadership of Carwyn Jones and Mark Drakeford.  He was minister for health during the scamdemic and recently appeared before the UK Covid Inquiry, where he described missing WhatsApp messages as a 'real embarrassment'.  Like their Scottish counterparts, Welsh government ministers - including Drakeford - could not provide their WhatsApp messages to the inquiry.  As for Gething, he claims that his messages were 'wiped' when he handed his phone in for maintenance in 2022.

Gething's missing WhatsApps are far from the first controversy to afflict the minister.  During the first lockdown in May 2020, he was photographed with his family eating chips at a picnic table in Cardiff.  This act contravened Gething's own lockdown rules, but Drakeford's government defended him and declared that as this was a 'takeaway meal' it was permissible.

During the same period, Gething was also caught swearing about one of his own colleagues, MS Jenny Rathbone.  Gething failed to mute his microphone during a video call and was heard to say: "What the f*** is the matter with her?", much to the amusement, bewilderment and horror of the participants (video below).

In 2017, Gething was being interviewed by ITV Wales and walked away after the reporter asked him about his failure to hold an inquiry into allegations that a hospital worker had sexually abused vulnerable patients.  Background checks had not been carried out prior to the man's employment and he would later go on to murder his next door neighbour.

More recently, Gething was found to have received a £200,000 donation towards his leadership campaign from controversial businessman David Neal.  Neal had been convicted twice of illegally dumping waste and Gething had earlier lobbied on his behalf, namely to get regulators to ease restrictions on Neal's company, Atlantic Recycling.  The whole affair stank of more than just waste.

Gething Walks Away Mid-Interview

Gething Swears During Video Call

Vaughan Gething is expected to be sworn in as First Minister next week, but will not face the electorate until 2026, when the next Senedd elections are due to be held.  With all three of Great Britain's main political leaders now from a non-white background, it remains to be seen whether the hysterical left will continue to portray our nation as 'institutionally racist'.  Of course they will!

WELSH LABOUR'S HYPOCRISY

Welsh Labour continue to snipe at the Westminster Tory government, following Mark Drakeford's extraordinary attack last Friday.  Welsh government minister Vaughan Gething tweeted on Wednesday to brag that his government 'had never had a VIP lane' and that 'the same rules applied to everyone'.  This is a bit rich coming from Gething, who was Welsh health minister when he was photographed eating a meal at a picnic table with his family during the first lockdown.  Gething, of course, had done nothing wrong according to the Welsh government - but ordinary Welsh folk could potentially have been fined for doing the same thing.

Then there was the Senedd drinking scandal, when three assembly members were revealed to have consumed alcohol in the parliament building days after an alcohol ban was slapped on Welsh pubs.  Two of them were Tories, the other was Labour.  Apologies were issued all round, including from Alun Davies - the Labour member involved in the breach who was also suspended from the Labour group in response to the scandal.  Davies was later readmitted to the Labour group, but look who retweeted Gething on Wednesday...

Short memory or selective memory Alun?

More recently there was also Mark Drakeford's Diwali knees-up in November.  At a time when he and his government were beginning to ramp up their Covid rhetoric, the First Minister was filmed dancing among an indoor crowd at a Diwali celebration in Cardiff.  Despite the never-ending mask mandate in Wales, there were no face masks to be seen anywhere in the footage (see below).

The Welsh government later said that no rules were broken as it took place in a premises where food and drink were being served.  A month later the same government ordered nightclubs in Wales to close.  It's safe to dance in a crowd when you're the First Minister, but ordinary Welsh folk must be careful!

GETHING CAUGHT OUT AGAIN

Vaughan Gething

Wales health minister Vaughan Gething has become embroiled in another Covid-related row.  On Saturday he was spotted by members of the public sitting at a picnic table in Cardiff eating a meal with his family.  This was despite the lockdown having been extended in Wales the previous day and Welsh government advice dictating that neither 'having a picnic' or a 'prolonged period on a park bench' were allowed.

Eyewitnesses expressed dismay that the health minister wasn't practicing as he preached.  One told The Sun: "He was really relaxed, enjoying the sunshine with his family on a beautiful day in Cardiff Bay.  I was confused and surprised when I saw him sitting down because I thought we weren't allowed to do that".  The minister is said to have spent more than 15 minutes sitting at the table munching on chips and enjoying the sunshine.

Gething (in red shirt) having a sit down meal in Cardiff

Gething has denied that he broke any rules: "I went out for a walk with my family, as many of us have done over the weekend.  My son was on his scooter and we went local to ourselves.  It's a walk we do from time to time.  We stopped for food on the way.  All of those things are within the regulations, so there is absolutely no breach of the guidance or the rules themselves".

A spokesman for the Welsh government also backed him: "Absolutely nothing the minister is reported to have done contravenes Welsh government regulations.  Walking and eating food along the way with members of your household is allowed.  Walking a couple of miles from home is exercising locally and is permitted under our regulations.  Buying takeaway food from a café/takeaway is permitted under our regulations".

The last part of that statement would be of great interest to anyone who has been moved on or fined by the police for doing exactly that.  While Gething and his Labour colleagues all claim that he has done nothing wrong, it's interesting to note that the minister's attire on Saturday suggested an attempt was made to disguise himself.  In addition to his baseball cap he wore sunglasses.

When the First Minister addressed the Senedd on Wednesday he faced repeated questions about Gething's behaviour.  Darren Millar, Conservative MS for Clywd West, put it to Mark Drakeford: "It looks to the public it's one rule for the health minister and another rule for them".   Millar went on to ask when the minister would be removed from his post.  This was the second time in less than a month there have been calls for Gething to go.  Last month he was caught swearing off camera during a conference call.  Mark Drakeford refused to take action then and defended his minister on Wednesday over this latest escapade.

Can you imagine the national outcry if Matt Hancock had been photographed having a sit down lunch at a picnic table?  It's highly doubtful that Hancock would survive, but even more doubtful that he has the time to spare to engage in such activity anyway.

WELSH MINISTER DROPS F-BOMB

Wales health minister Vaughan Gething

While today's main event at Westminster went relatively smoothly, less can be said about events over at the virtual Senedd.  Health minister Vaughan Gething had been addressing assembly members, but forgot to mute his microphone after he'd finished and was caught swearing in reference to one of his own Labour colleagues.  "What the f*** is wrong with her" he is heard to exclaim in reference to AM Jenny Rathbone (a 70-year-old woman).  Watch below for the full clip and look at the shocked reactions, including a clearly gobsmacked Leanne Wood, former leader of Plaid Cymru...

The leaders of both the Welsh Tories and Plaid Cymru have called on First Minister Mark Drakeford to dismiss Gething, but at the time of writing an apology is all that's been forthcoming...