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.
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