Plan to keep Gething in office with vote of ‘sex pest’ Senedd Member

Martin Shipton

Vaughan Gething’s team of advisers has suggested keeping him in office by offering a special Senedd role to an Independent MS who was suspended from the Senedd for groping a woman in a taxi, we have been told.

In return for chairing a body that would investigate the mechanics of devolving part of the criminal justice system, Rhys ab Owen would be expected to support the Welsh Government’s annual Budget proposals.

Following the vote of no confidence passed in Mr Gething as a result of the scandals he is embroiled in, all three opposition parties have said they will not vote for next year’s Budget if he remains First Minister. With Labour having only 30 of the Senedd’s 60 seats, it needs the vote of at leasdt one opposition MS to get a Budget passed. That has led many observers to conclude that Mr Gething’s position is untenable.

Chairmanship

However, a Labour source told us: “Vaughan Gething’s team has come up with what they think is a way of keeping him in office. It involves buying Rhys ab Owen’s vote by offering him the chairmanship of a commission that could look at the practicalities of devolving youth justice to Wales.

“That’s something that Labour has agreed in principle and that it’s thought might appeal to Rhys ab Owen, a barrister who will be leaving the Senedd at the next election in 2026. He will be wanting to rebuild his reputation so he can return to the Bar,”

In March 2024 Mr ab Owen was suspended from the Senedd for six weeks after the Senedd’s Standards Committee upheld a complaint against him.

A report from Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain stated: “On the evening of June 30 2021, prior to attending a dinner for Plaid Cymru Members of the Senedd at the Côte restaurant, the Member drank a pint of beer. Whilst there, he drank a quantity of wine. He made lewd comments about [Senedd Members and a Member of Commission staff].

“After the dinner the Member and a number of other Members moved to Wetherspoons where they met up with a number of Plaid Cymru staff who had been attending a separate event. All those present had consumed varying amounts of alcohol and were intoxicated to varying degrees. The Member was more intoxicated than the others present. The Member made disparaging comments about [a Member of the Senedd] in a voice loud enough to be heard by those at adjoining tables.

“The Member inappropriately touched the waist of Witness A.

“In the street near to Wetherspoons the Member twice called the Complainant a ‘bitch’. He touched her inappropriately by putting his arm round her [the complainant’s] waist and pulling her body close to his. Knowing that he was not welcome, the Member got into the rear seat of a taxi and sat next to the Complainant.

“In the taxi he touched the Complainant inappropriately by squeezing her upper thigh hard with his hand. When called out by Witness A, the Member called her a ‘bitch’.

“At the Boom Battle Bar, the Member, Witness A, Witness B, Witness C and the Complainant sat together for approximately three hours and consumed more alcohol some of which was paid for by the Member. Whilst there the Member made disparaging comments about [a Member of the Senedd]. He also made disparaging comments about [two Members of the Senedd]. He made a number of wholly inappropriate comments to Witness A.

“At a virtual meeting with the Chief Whip on July 2 2021 the Member was given full details of all the allegations against him. Later that day the Member sent the Chief Whip an email in which he apologised for ‘his drunken behaviour of Wednesday night.’ The same day the Member emailed Witness A and apologised to her for ‘what happened on Wednesday’.[June 30 2021]

“At about 5pm that day the Member telephoned the Complainant and, speaking in Welsh, told her repeatedly that he was sorry. The Member has admitted that his conduct caused mental pain to the Complainant and others. His conduct continues to adversely affect the Complainant.”

Mr ab Owen, a regional MS for South Wales Central, was elected as a Plaid Cymru candidate at the last Senedd election in 2021, but the party has excluded him since the complaint was made. He is not expected to be a Plaid candidate in 2026.

Sexual misconduct

A Labour insider said: “At the general election we pledged a new broom, to clean up politics. Now Vaughan’s team are talking up the possibility of Vaughan doing a deal with someone recently suspended from the Senedd for sexual misconduct. Does Keir Starmer agree this is someone Labour should be appointing to run a commission on youth justice?

“It’s easy to condemn this sort of stuff when it’s the Tories: we all remember the Labour front bench bravely condemning Tory failures on Chris Pincher. Silence on this will show how hollow that was.

“When the end is keeping Vaughan Gething in power, is it the case that any means are justified? If we gift this man a job because it suits us in the moment, we lose any right to speak with moral authority. Labour MSs and MPs now have to answer the question, is it worth that?”

Mr ab Owen told us he hadn’t been approached about such a role. He said: “It’s news to me. I’ve had no conversations or approaches from the government.”

Asked what his reaction would be should an approach be made to him, he said: “I think that’s too speculative to answer.”