Has Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens been lobbying for Vaughan Gething to get a peerage?

Martin Shipton

Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens has been lobbying for disgraced former First Minister Vaughan Gething to be given a seat in the House of Lords, Nation.Cymru has been told by a political source.

But while Ms Stevens herself has not responded to our questions on the matter, the suggestion that she has been pushing for Mr Gething to get a peerage has been denied vehemently by a UK Government source.

Mr Gething resigned as First Minister in July following a succession of scandals. He accepted donations totalling £200,000 from a waste group whose owner David Neal had been given two suspended prison sentences for dumping toxic sludge in the precious landscape of the Gwent Levels

It later emerged that the group was under investigation for underpaying landfill tax to the Welsh Government by wrongly classifying the kinds of waste it was dumping.

Nation.Cymru also published the screenshot of a message from a ministerial iMessage chat that showed Mr Gething admitting that he was deleting messages because they would be disclosable under freedom of information laws. He failed to mention this in sworn evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry, claiming messages had been deleted when his phone was being “refitted” by the Senedd’s IT department.

Sacked

Subsequently Mr Gething sacked Social Partnership Minister Hannah Blythyn, accusing her of leaking the screenshot to Nation.Cymru. Ms Blythyn has consistently denied being the source of the leak, and Nation.Cymru took the unusual step of confirming it had not received the screenshot from her.

Mr Gething initially refused to resign as First Minister after a motion of no confidence in him was passed by the Senedd, but did so after four members of his Cabinet themselves quit and senior Labour figures urged him to go.

While Keir Starmer initially backed Mr Gething, the Labour Party came to recognise that he was more of a liability than an asset.

This week Nation.Cymru reported how Mr Gething had told his successor as First Minister Eluned Morgan that he was “ready to serve” in her Cabinet if she offers him a job in a reshuffle expected in September.

We also understand that Mr Gething has told people he would like a seat in the House of Lords and a ministerial job in the UK Labour government.

The suggestion that he could make a swift return to government was not welcomed by senior Labour figures we spoke to.

‘Conversations’

A reliable political source subsequently contacted us to say: “I have been told by three separate people that Jo Stevens has been pressing the case for Vaughan Gething to go to the House of Lords. One said she had been overheard having conversations to that effect in the Wales Office. Such representations would have been made to Number 10.”

A senior Labour source with no knowledge of such representations told us: “In normal circumstances, it would not be remarkable for a Secretary of State for Wales to suggest a peerage for a former First Minister, but these are not normal circumstances, and it would indicate poor judgement on Jo Stevens’ part to do so.”

Before they became elected politicians, Ms Stevens and Mr Gething worked together at Thompsons Solicitors in Cardiff, and they remain close friends.

We sent the following questions to Ms Stevens’ office:

* Has Vaughan Gething made any representations, in writing or verbally, directly or indirectly, to Jo Stevens expressing his wish to be made a member of the House of Lords? If so, please detail the circumstances.

* Has Jo Stevens had any conversations with Labour Party or UK Government officials/SpAds [special advisers] about the prospect of Mr Gething getting a peerage? If so, what was said?

* Has she expressed the view to people working in 10 Downing Street or the Cabinet Office that Mr Gething should be offered a peerage? If so, to whom has she expressed such a view, and was that in writing or verbally?

* Does she recognise that she could have been overheard making comments supporting the idea that Mr Gething should be awarded a peerage?

* Does she think he should be offered a peerage?

* During the scandals surrounding Mr Gething that came to light earlier this year, Jo Stevens offered no criticism of him. Does she believe he did nothing wrong?

* Does Jo Stevens believe Mr Gething should be offered a role in the Welsh Government Cabinet?

‘Untrue’

Ms Stevens did not respond personally, but replying to the suggestion that she had lobbied for Mr Gething to get a peerage, a UK Government source said: “This is categorically untrue. The Welsh Secretary has made no representations on this. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and irresponsible. This government is serious about restoring the public’s trust in their representatives.”

On background, our attention was drawn to the fact that the Welsh Secretary has no role in deciding either appointments to the House of Lords or the Welsh Government.

We were also referred to earlier on-the-record statements made by Ms Stevens that had been supportive of Mr Gething.