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Telegraph use picture of wrong man while criticising Drakeford trip to World Cup

04 Dec 2022 3 minute read
That’s not the First Minister. Picture by Adam Davy / PA

The Telegraph news website used a picture of the wrong man as it criticised the Welsh First Minister’s trip to the World Cup.

Under the headline ‘Mark Drakeford spends £13,000 of taxpayers’ money on World Cup trip’ the news site showed a picture of FAW Vice-President Mark Adams in the crowd in Qatar.

The article itself notes that Finance Minister Vaughan Gething attended the England game, but shows what it claims to be a picture of Mark Drakeford at that same match. Mark Drakeford attended the match against the USA while the Welsh Government boycotted the Iran game.

The newspaper had picked up on an FOI request by the Welsh Liberal Democrats which revealed the cost of the Welsh Government’s journey.

The Liberal Democrats had repeatedly called on the Welsh Government to cancel the trip over human rights concerns. They said that the total cost showed that it was also an unnecessary use of public money during the cost-of-living crisis.

Mark Drakeford had said that the decision to go was a “close run thing” but that it was too good an opportunity to promote Wales on the world stage to turn down.

‘Responsibilities’

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the Welsh Labour Party to donate £13,000 of its own funds to human rights charities addressing the issues faced by LGBTQ+ people, women and foreign workers in Qatar.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said: “What these freedom of information requests show is what we long suspected, human rights have taken a backseat in the Welsh Government’s priorities during its engagements with Qatar in favour of investment deals.

“There is also a question over whether spending £13,000 of taxpayers’ money on a trip for two Ministers to Qatar is good value for money, especially in a cost-of-living crisis.

“In order to make up for helping to legitimise a tournament built on human rights abuses, I am now calling on the Welsh Labour Party to donate £13,000 of their own party funds to human rights charities that address the various issues faced in Qatar.

“I am also reiterating my party’s calls that the Welsh Government office in Qatar should be shut. If it is unable to promote human rights, including LGBTQ+ rights and the rights of workers, alongside other values of our country, then it shouldn’t be open.”

Speaking in Doha last week, Mark Drakeford had defended his decision to go to Qatar and attend business meetings there amid concerns over human rights in the country.

He pointed to the fact that Qatar was investing millions of pounds in expanding a major gas terminal in Wales.

“In the end, I am the First Minister of Wales,” he said. “I think that comes with some responsibilities to represent Wales at a rare occasion when Wales are on a platform such as that of a World Cup.”


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Gareth Davies
1 year ago

How strange! The Torygraph not knowing who is Wales’ first minister 🤣

Kerry Davies
Kerry Davies
1 year ago
Reply to  Gareth Davies

If the Welsh Government spent just £13K on Drakeford and Gethin, let alone support staff, they got a real bargain.
A business flight is £3,500 and basic hotel rooms are costing £2,500 a night per person while a top sports photographer starts his fees at $10,000 a day. The Torygraph may well have paid £500 to £1,000 to use that one pic and their costs for the tournament will be in six figures..

Cathy Jones
Cathy Jones
1 year ago

Well tbf, I don’t like the idea of “‘Mark Drakeford spends £13,000 of taxpayers” no matter the picture….but, uh, I’m willing to put up with that over: ” PPE the government bought for £122m from a company linked to the Tory peer Michelle Mone was purchased from the Chinese manufacturer for just £46m. The extraordinary profits apparently made by PPE Medpro and its partners in the supply chain are revealed in documents leaked to the Guardian, including contracts and an inspection report for sterile surgical gowns supplied by the firm. Despite being bought at the start of the pandemic and delivered… Read more »

Kevin Butcher
Kevin Butcher
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Jones

well said !

Rhufawn Jones
Rhufawn Jones
1 year ago

£13,000! Sounds like a good deal to me. I’m very happy that my tax contribution went towards that. Try again, Tory Telegraph!

Gareth
Gareth
1 year ago

They do not seem to understand what hypocrisy or double standards mean. While running this story, this paper, who are 100% in support of the current Tory UK Gov, ignore or do not report on the fact that soon we will have a new “British” human rights bill, written to benefit, not the people, but the current Gov, while this Gov tries removes us from the European court of human rights. More rightwing disinformation and deflection, to go along with the new policing and law bill.

Tomos
Tomos
1 year ago

Gething is not finance minister.

Peter Cuthbert
Peter Cuthbert
1 year ago
Reply to  Tomos

How many Tory ministers went or are planning to go? The internet seems to be very quiet on that and one cannot assume that they would go at their own expense.

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