Vaughan Gething misled UK Covid Inquiry by not admitting he deleted messages

Martin Shipton

Evidence has emerged that Vaughan Gething misled the UK Covid Inquiry and the Senedd by concealing the fact that he deliberately deleted records of conversations he had with other ministers.

As a witness to the Inquiry, the First Minister insisted that messages had been deleted from his mobile phone not by him, but when it was serviced by the Senedd’s IT department.

But a previously undisclosed message that has been leaked to Nation.Cymru proves that he admitted deleting conversations he had with ministerial colleagues on a group chat.

In a text message posted to the ministerial group chat on Monday August 17 2020, when he was Health Minister, Mr Gething wrote: “I’m deleting the messages in this group. They can be captured in an FOI [Freedom of Information request] and I think we are all in the right place on the choice being made.”

Covid restrictions

The message was written at a time when Wales was still subject to Covid restrictions following the first lockdown, and when ministers were making decisions about the level of interaction between people that should be permitted.

On August 17 – the date of Mr Gething’s message – the Welsh Government announced that A-level and GCSE students would be awarded the grades estimated for them by their teachers. There had been uproar the previous week after 42% of grades were lower than teacher assessments, having been processed by an algorithm.

His admission that he deleted messages contradicts evidence that he gave to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, when he asserted that messages had been deleted during a “security rebuild” of his mobile phone carried out in 2022 by the Senedd’s IT team.

It appears that, contrary to other evidence Mr Gething gave to the Inquiry, decisions about dealing with the pandemic were discussed by him and other ministers in the group chat.

Mr Gething provided a lengthy written “statement of truth” to the Inquiry dated January 3 2024. It runs to 147 pages, at the end of which is a signed declaration by him which states: “I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief of its truth. “

On March 11 he gave oral evidence to the Inquiry when it was sitting in Cardiff. Immediately before doing so, he made this declaration: “I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

Perjury

Telling lies at a statutory public inquiry, such as the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, amounts to the criminal offence of perjury, which on conviction can lead to a prison sentence of up to seven years.

Other laws may also have been broken. The Inquiries Act 2005, which sets out the legal responsibilities of witnesses to statutory public inquiries, states that all relevant material must be provided to an inquiry, while the Freedom of Information Act has penalties for those who destroy material that would be subject to disclosure.

In his written statement, Mr Gething said that although he would sometimes discuss matters by phone, text, WhatsApp or Microsoft Teams, these informal means of communication were not used to make decisions.

He stated that during the period of the pandemic, he had four mobile phones – two from the Welsh Government and two from the Senedd.

It is unclear whether Mr Gething used a Welsh Government phone or a Senedd phone to participate in the ministerial group chat in which he posted the incriminating message. It is also unclear how many, if any, of these group chat messages were passed to the UK Covid Inquiry, as they should have been.

Data

Mr Gething’s statement said: “For the period from July 2021 to March 2022, I’m informed by the Senedd’s Customer Services office that I had both my first and second Senedd phones. To the best of my recollection I only used my second Senedd phone from July 2021, at which point any data was transferred to my second Senedd phone.

“In March 2022, I returned my first Senedd phone. There was no data transferred from this phone at this point. From March 2022, I only had my second Senedd phone and my Welsh Government phone. I did use my second Senedd phone to text and WhatsApp colleagues.

“I have reviewed my WhatsApp messages on my second Senedd phone but I do not have any WhatsApp messages that pre-date June 2022. I have twice used WhatsApp.com and followed their instructions to recover messages in an effort to access WhatsApp messages prior to June 2022 but there are no messages stored online.

“In June 2022 I returned my second Senedd phone for maintenance. Before the maintenance work was undertaken, the content of this phone was backed up to the iCloud linked to my personal Apple ID before it was wiped and rebuilt with Office 365.

“My iCloud has been checked and it does not have WhatsApp or text messages stored prior to June 2022. I am now aware that my iCloud settings did not have back up for text messages turned on. I did not realise that at the time. Enquiries have been made on my behalf with the Senedd IT team who do not have any backup stored on their system prior to June 2022.

“I have been through my second Senedd phone to identify text messages between January 1 2020 and May 31 2022 between myself and civil servants, SpAds, Ministers and Four Nations Counterparts that remain on the device. Where there are any texts still on my second Senedd phone I have provided these to the Welsh Government legal team to be reviewed.”

Public accountability

At the oral hearing in Cardiff on March 11 2024, Tom Poole KC, the lead counsel to the Inquiry, addressed Mr Gething, saying: “You would accept, would you, that it’s not just important to retain records for an Inquiry of this nature but it is important for public accountability?”

Mr Gething responded: “Indeed, it’s important the public can see not just the choices we made but why we have made those choices.”

Mr Poole pointed out to Mr Gething that in April 2021 an email was sent to all private secretaries of Welsh Government ministers, stating: “As I mentioned at our Heads of Branch meetings last week, it is important that we are prepared to respond to any future public inquiry in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, and good record-keeping is an essential component of this endeavour.”

Mr Gething responded: “So what I recall was that we did have a discussion about making sure that our records were up to date, choices we’d made and decisions around them, so that’s what I understood it to have been and that’s what was done, and if you look at — there are lots of examples of decisions that had been taken and conversations that had taken place that are there and are summarised, so I understood that we’d kept and maintained all the information that we should do, and it would be made available to this Inquiry.”

Regret

Mr Poole then asked: “So knowing in May 2021 that there would be a public inquiry, you return your first Senedd mobile phone in March 2022. Looking back, do you regret now not taking any steps to ensure that your texts and WhatsApps on that phone, so this is the phone you’re using throughout the time you are Minister for Health and Social Services, were recorded?”

Mr Gething responded: “No, not at that time because of course I had a second phone that had all those messages on it. I certainly do regret the fact that all those messages aren’t available to you, because you could see them and satisfy yourself that all of the information there is consistent with all the information in the records you do have in front of you. It’s a point of embarrassment, and if I had been able to provide all of those records, then I don’t think that this would really be the issue that I understand it is for a number of people.”

Mr Poole said: “Now, the Inquiry has a record of you turning on disappearing messages in a chat with [former Education Minister] Kirsty Williams in 2023, so namely outside of the period with which we’re concerned. Now, did you on any other chats that you were involved in turn on disappearing messages during the period we’re concerned with, namely January 2020 to May 2022?”

Mr Gething responded: “No. I wasn’t actually aware there was a disappearing messages function until much later, so I couldn’t have done it because I didn’t know it existed.”

Wiped

Lady Hallett, who chairs the Inquiry, asked Mr Gething: “When you discovered that your second phone basically had the WhatsApp messages and the like wiped, did you do anything about it?”. He responded: “Yeah, so I did ask whether it was possible to recover it, and I had some advice then and I’ve gone through subsequently, on three or four occasions, to try to restart WhatsApp. It says you can recover messages through it. But I wasn’t able to. But it is a matter of real embarrassment, because if I’d been able to recover those messages then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

A statement issued to the users of Welsh Government mobile phones in February 2019 said: “Text and Instant Messaging Text or `instant messages’ are electronic mail and messaging systems used for the purposes of communication between individuals. Staff should be aware that when using their WG phones in this way they are in fact creating ‘public records’. Staff using private phones for WG business may also be creating public records.

“The ephemeral nature of text messages (and instant messaging) heightens the need for users to be aware that they may be creating records using this application, and to properly manage and preserve record content.”

At no stage did Mr Gething admit that he had deleted messages because he considered they would be subject to freedom of information disclosure.

Embarrassing

The day after Mr Gething gave his oral evidence to the Inquiry, Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies raised the issue of disappearing messages during First Minister’s Questions, with the then FM Mark Drakeford, saying: “The Economy Minister highlighted how it was embarrassing that data was lost because the Senedd IT department lost that data when they were upgrading his phone.”

Elin Jones, the Llywydd (Presiding Officer) intervened to say: “I am responsible for the Senedd Commission staff, and I’m sure the leader of the opposition did not seek to imply any criticism of the ICT Senedd staff, in his questioning of the First Minister, on any data that was lost by the ICT department.

“Software updates are very complex and have consequences on all our devices, and it was most definitely not as a result of the Senedd ICT department that the data was lost. So, any criticism of the staff of that department, I’m sure you did not imply that.”

At no stage has Mr Gething reported to the Senedd that he deleted messages because they could have been disclosed under freedom of information legislation.

‘Devastating blow’

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “The revelation that Vaughan Gething, as the former Health Minister of Wales, deliberately deleted messages at the height of the pandemic, strikes a devastating blow to those who lost loved ones and who, like us in Plaid Cymru, have long called for a Welsh inquiry to get to the bottom of Government decisions. We all sought transparency but were told all was in the open for the UK Inquiry to see. This undermines any belief that that is the case.

“It shows blatant disregard for honesty and transparency, further undermining trust in the Labour First Minister on the back of his donations scandal. The leaked message shows that the Welsh Labour Cabinet was complicit in allowing this deception. Baroness Hallett, as chair of the Inquiry, should immediately recall Vaughan Gething to give clarity on what he said under oath.

“Vaughan Gething is running away from an independent investigation into a donation to his Labour leadership campaign but must not be allowed to dodge an investigation into this extremely serious matter.”

Totally shocking

Sam Smith-Higgins of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru campaign group said: “This disclosure that Vaughan Gething deliberately deleted messages pertinent to Covid decision-making will be totally shocking to those of us who lost loved ones and to everyone who endured the hardships and restrictions imposed in Wales.

“Gething’s legal acumen should have guided him against such actions, yet his blatant disregard for honesty and transparency undermines trust in the Welsh Government. His misleading of the UK Covid Inquiry is not only outrageous but indicative of a systemic failure within the Welsh Labour Cabinet which has been complicit in allowing this deception.

“Welsh Labour has consistently opposed a dedicated Wales Covid Inquiry, choosing instead to solely engage in the UK Covid Inquiry. However, their apparent failure to disclose evidence now clearly breaches the terms of their participation in this inquiry. Their aversion to scrutiny begs the question: what other secrets are they concealing?

“Families who placed their faith in both the Welsh Government and the UK Covid Inquiry are now betrayed and left to question the integrity of the process. Judge Hallet must immediately recall Vaughan Gething to seek clarity. The UK Covid Inquiry falls short in scrutinising Wales; we deserve a more rigorous examination.

“The call for a Wales-specific Covid Inquiry is not just warranted but imperative, as it’s evident that without it, the truth remains elusive and justice unattainable for the people of Wales.”

A senior Welsh Labour insider said: “It’s time for Vaughan Gething to start answering questions instead of hiding behind others, as he literally did last week when Jane Hutt responded to points made during the opposition debate on the £200k donations he received from a criminal.

“Welsh Labour is a party that aims to bring Wales together. It’s difficult to see how Welsh Labour can do that if there are fundamental doubts about the integrity of the First Minister.”

The Welsh Government was given the opportunity to comment, but declined to do so.