Top London journalist is ‘secretly running’ Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign

Martin Shipton

A leading political journalist has secretly been running the media strand of Vaughan Gething’s Welsh Labour leadership campaign, we can reveal.

The employment of Ben Glaze, who until the beginning of January was the deputy political editor of The Daily Mirror, explains what part of the controversial donations totalling £200,000 to Mr Gething by a company run by a convicted criminal is being spent on.

Welsh Government ministers, MPs, backbench Senedd Members and ordinary members of Welsh Labour have been astonished and appalled by the size of the donation from a Cardiff-based company called Dauson Environmental Group, whose director David Neal was given two suspended prison sentences for dumping toxic sludge on the Gwent Levels, a sensitive conservation landscape south east of Newport.

The area is of totemic significance for the Welsh Government because First Minister Mark Drakeford rejected a proposal to build the M4 relief road through the Gwent Levels on environmental grounds.

Dauson also has three financial charges against it from the Development Bank of Wales, which is owned by the Welsh Government. This means that Dauson is in receipt of taxpayer investment from a publicly owned bank for which Mr Gething, as the Economy Minister, is responsible.

Controversy

Even before news of the £200k donations was broken by Nation.Cymru, there had been controversy about the way in which Mr Gething received nominations for his leadership bid from trade unions, especially Unite, whose “regional secretary” for Wales Peter Hughes intervened when it appeared a committee was about to nominate Mr Gething’s rival Jeremy Miles.

Mr Hughes misused a recently introduced union rule to disqualify Mr Miles, handing the nomination by default to Mr Gething. The consequence of such manoeuvring is that Mr Gething has an in-built advantage in the leadership contest because he has exclusive access to union affiliated members of the party, of whom there are many more than ordinary party members.

Together with other developments, these controversies have provided a major challenge for Mr Gething’s media operation. Mr Gething has sought to dismiss concerns, saying he has abided by Welsh Labour’s internal election rules. But many members of the party believe his decision to accept such a large amount of money from a convicted polluter has brought him and Welsh Labour into disrepute.

Contact

Journalists have been told that the contact person for Mr Gething’s media campaign is Haf Davies, head of marketing and communications in Wales for the National Trust. Ms Davies has previously worked as a parliamentary assistant for Cardiff West MP Kevin Brennan and as a political adviser to Tom (now Lord) Watson when he was deputy leader of the Labour Party.

But well-placed sources have told us that the media campaign is actually being run by Mr Glaze, a highly regarded political journalist who was based in Westminster. On January 2 he posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, that said: “New Year, new start – I’ve left the Mirror after nine very exciting years in the lobby. Thanks to everyone – colleagues, contacts and the news gods – who has made it such fun! Looking forward to seeing what comes next.”

Mr Glaze joined the Mirror’s team at the Houses of Parliament in 2014 and previously worked for the Sunday Mirror as a news reporter and the Press Association as a political reporter.

After graduating in journalism from Sheffield University, he began his working career as a trainee at the weekly Glamorgan Gazette in Bridgend before a stint at the South Wales Argus in Newport and then three years at what is now the Media Wales branch of Reach plc, publishers of the Western Mail, the South Wales Echo and WalesOnline.

We contacted Mr Glaze via the Vaughan Gething campaign email address, pointing out that a couple of reliable sources had told us that he was in charge of the media campaign, even though an announcement to that effect has not been made.

We put to him a number of questions:

* Did you leave the Mirror to take the job or were you approached after you knew you were leaving?

* How much of the £200k is being paid to you?

* It’s also been suggested that if Vaughan Gething wins, he would appoint you as a special adviser. Are you up for that or would you rule yourself out?

Mr Glaze responded: “Thanks for your inquiry. We do not comment on staffing matters.”

A Welsh Labour insider told us: “Ben can’t be having fun. It’s a sh*t show.”