Labour figures who approved Gething’s ‘dodgy donations’ now running election campaign

Martin Shipton

The two men who organised Vaughan Gething’s tainted but successful leadership bid have been put in charge of Welsh Labour’s general election campaign.

Stewart Owadally, who was Mr Gething’s campaign manager has been appointed campaign manager for the party, while David Costa, a Labour Party administrative veteran until his retirement as deputy general secretary in 2022, will be responsible for Welsh Labour governance issues during the general election campaign.

Eyebrows have been raised within Welsh Labour about Mr Costa’s appointment especially, given that as Mr Gething’s agent he was responsible for signing off the donations totalling £200,000 given to Mr Gething’s campaign by convicted criminal David Neal, who received two suspended prison sentences after illegally dumping toxic sludge in the Gwent Levels, a protected wetland landscape near Cardiff.

Serious governance issues

A Labour insider said: “There were clearly serious governance issues with the Vaughan Gething campaign, and UK Labour have quite rightly refused to take the tainted cash. It’s reasonable for members to question whether the person in charge of governance for Vaughan’s campaign is the right person to do the job for Welsh Labour in the general election.

“We have to put winning first and if that means keeping Vaughan’s team away from things, then so be it. Nobody’s ego is more important than electing a Labour government.”

Another Labour source said: “Running the general election in Wales is the responsibility of Welsh Labour, and the acting general secretary Joe Lock has made these appointments. But there is a belief that the real decision maker was Vaughan Gething.”

Nation.Cymru has previously reported how Mr Gething wanted Mr Owadally to be the new general secretary for Welsh Labour, but the plan was vetoed by UK Labour. As a result acting general secretary Joe Lockis in charge – a man who once had to apologise for a string of social media posts in which he described former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as a “f****** c*** and who created a link to a website called “Is Thatcher dead yet?”, adding the comment: “Can’t be long, fingers crossed.”

Embarrassed

A second Labour source said: “It’s absolutely the case that UK Labour is now embarrassed by Vaughan because of the donations scandal. This was made absolutely clear in the contrast between the launch of Welsh Labour’s general election campaign and the equivalent Scottish Labour launch.

“It was extraordinary that journalists attending the Welsh launch were told that Vaughan was unavailable for interview, and that it was such a small scale event with only around 30 candidates and party members present as [the UK party’s deputy leader] Angela Rayner launched the campaign.

“Meanwhile in Glasgow Keir Starmer stood alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar amid hundreds of party activists as Sir Keir said Scotland was ‘central to Labour’s mission for government’.”

“At the launch of Welsh Labour’s last general election campaign in 2019, the then First Minister Mark Drakeford was front and centre of the event, saying: “We will hold the Tories to account for the choices they have made – choices which are leaving working families worse off and starving public services of funds.”

He said there was a “clear choice between a Welsh Labour Party who will stand up for you and your family – and a Tory party which is failing working people”, adding: “Wales is the only country in the UK with a Labour government and we have secured real change for people – for those who need it most. But we could do so much more with a UK Labour government.

“If you want to put the chaos of the Tories and a decade of austerity behind us, vote for Labour.”

Blessing and a curse

Speculating on Mr Gething’s fate, our second Labour source said: “The calling of the general election is both a blessing and a curse for him. In the immediate future, it’s headed off the possibility of a motion of no confidence in him at the Senedd, moved by the opposition parties.

“All it would have needed was one disenchanted Labour MS to abstain for a motion of no confidence to pass. However, while there is much unhappiness in the Labour Senedd group, there is no way any Labour MS is going to abstain, let alone vote against Vaughan in a vote of confidence while the election is pending, with the risk that could potentially derail the campaign.

“On the other hand, once the general election is out of the way in six weeks time, any potential negative consequences of dethroning him will no longer apply. The reality is, of course, that while the Tories will undoubtedly include attacks on Vaughan as a main theme of their campaign, most people will be thinking about which party they want in power at Westminster.

“But after the general election, people will be looking ahead to the Senedd election in two years’ time. If Vaughan were still First Minister at that time, what’s likely to be a difficult election anyway would be all the more problematic. He will always be tainted with scandal and that is not an election winner. His days in office are numbered.”