Vaughan Gething tells Eluned Morgan he wants a place in her Cabinet

Martin Shipton

Disgraced former First Minister Vaughan Gething has told his successor Eluned Morgan he is “ready to serve” in her Cabinet if she offers him a job in the reshuffle planned for September, we understand.

Nation.Cymru has also been told that Mr Gething, who was forced to resign after accepting donations totalling £200,000 from a convicted criminal and lying to the UK Covid Inquiry after deleting messages exchanged with ministerial colleagues because they were subject to disclosure under freedom of information legislation, has spoken of how he can’t afford to live on a backbench MS’s salary of £72,057.

We also understand that Mr Gething has told people he would like a seat in the House of Lords and a ministerial job in the UK Labour government.

When telling Baroness Morgan that he was “ready to serve” in her Cabinet, it is understood he joked that taking charge of health again would mean “divorce” for him.

Credible

A senior Welsh Labour source said: “What do you say? You can’t resign as First Minister in July because you’ve lost the confidence of the Senedd and your colleagues and return as a minister in September. It just isn’t credible.

“What would anyone think, meeting a former First Minister in such circumstances after they’ve had to resign because of everything that’s happened? It’s so depressing that this is even being spoken of as a possibility.

“The level of entitlement on Vaughan’s part is absolutely breathtaking.”

Mr Gething’s resignation was forced after four Cabinet members quit in the wake of his insistence on remaining as First Minister despite losing a motion of no confidence when two Labour backbenchers abstained.

The scandals surrounding his leadership began when Nation.Cymru revealed how he had accepted donations totalling £200k from Cardiff waste company Dauson Environmental Group, whose owner David Neal had received two suspended prison sentences for dumping toxic sludge in the protected landscape of the Gwent Levels. It later emerged that the group was under investigation for underpaying landfill tax to the Welsh Government by wrongly classifying the kinds of waste it was dumping.

Nation.Cymru also published the screenshot of a message from a ministerial iMessage chat that showed Mr Gething admitting that he was deleting messages because they would be disclosable under freedom of information laws. He failed to mention this in sworn evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry, claiming messages had been deleted when his phone was being “refitted” by the Senedd’s IT department.

Subsequently Mr Gething sacked Social Partnership Minister Hannah Blythyn, accusing her of leaking the screenshot to Nation.Cymru. Ms Blythyn has consistently denied being the source of the leak, and Nation.Cymru took the unusual step of confirming it had not received the screenshot from her.

Tipping point

While Keir Starmer initially backed Mr Gething, saying he had broken no rules, a tipping point was reached when he was clearly seen by Labour as more of a liability than an asset. Mr Gething’s approval ratings in Wales dropped significantly, and one poll measuring voting intention at the next Senedd election in 2026 put Labour just one percentage point ahead of Plaid Cymru. Senior figures in the party eventually persuaded Mr Gething to resign, although he has shown no remorse for his behaviour, asserting that he has done nothing wrong. He and his supporters have also made unfounded allegations of racism against Welsh media outlets including Nation.Cymru for their coverage of the scandal.

Responding to the news that Mr Gething may be in line for a swift comeback, Plaid Cymru MS Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “This shows that Labour’s priority has never been Wales but is instead their ambition to serve their Westminster bosses. The fact that a former Labour FM apparently complains about not being able to live on the salary of an MS shows how out of touch he is with the ordinary working person in Wales, most of whom can only dream of earning £70,000 a year.”

Alarming

The campaign group Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru responded with a statement that said: “Vaughan Gething should never have been leader of Wales. Whether he’s suitable for yet another ministerial role is for the new First Minister to decide.

“For the Covid bereaved families in Wales our concern is that as health minister he proactively withheld evidence from the UK Covid Inquiry. The only inquiry we have to get answers and change in Wales.

“Of course he doesn’t want the health portfolio. It’s alarming that he thinks it’s even on offer. The First Minister would be foolhardy to bring him back when he failed to prepare and protect the people of Wales. He must know that?

“As Mags, who lost her lovely mum to care-home-acquired Covid in Wave 1 says: ‘Didn’t do his job and we all live with the consequences and trauma of his non-action.’

“The First Minister would be naive to believe Gething’s woes have disappeared. He still has so many questions to answer.

“He would bring a cloud dishonestly and disrepute to any role. Does it set out a positive stall for her to recycle someone with so much integrity to rebuild?

“Wales needs positive change – not the inevitably negative distraction he creates.”

Another Labour source said: “It’s not known whether Eluned will give him a job or not. It would be disastrous for Labour if she does. Surely Kevin Brennan [the former Cardiff West MP who now heads the Welsh Government’s team of special advisers] will advise her against doing so.”