Welsh Government Cabinet Minutes ‘doctored’ to remove false statement by Vaughan Gething

A former Welsh Government Minister has produced evidence that minutes of a Cabinet meeting were doctored to remove an untrue statement made by Vaughan Gething as the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in the UK.

The intervention by former Education and Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews casts further doubts on the suitability of Mr Gething to become Welsh Labour leader and First Minister, and coincides with a final push by senior party figures aimed at ensuring he does not win the leadership contest against Jeremy Miles.

The internal party election has been mired with revelations about union stitch-ups aimed at favouring Mr Gething and the news that he accepted donations totalling £200,000 from a company whose main director received two suspended prison sentences for dumping toxic sludge in the Gwent Levels, a protected wetlands landscape to the south east of Newport.

Professor Andrews, who since leaving politics has become an academic at Cardiff University, made a series of posts to X that showed how a crucial Cabinet minute had been altered,

UK Covid Inquiry

Earlier this week the UK Covid Inquiry was told that Mr Gething, as Health Minister at the time, had wrongly informed a Welsh Government Cabinet meeting in February 2020 that there had been no Covid cases in the UK.

It has now emerged that the official minutes of the Cabinet meeting published by the Welsh Government contain a version that removed mention of Mr Gething’s false statement.

The original minute revealed at the UK Covid Inquiry read: “The Minister for Health and Social Services provided Cabinet with an update on the coronavirus virus (Covid-19). The Minister was issuing weekly written statements to Senedd Members and the chief medical officer was also providing regular updates for the public and had issued guidance to those who may develop symptoms after returning from abroad.

“Travel advice had recently been updated to reflect the increase in cases in a number of countries including Italy. Furthermore the Public Health Wales website was being updated on a daily basis.

“The worldwide response was still in the containment stage, and there had been no imported cases into the UK. The risk assessment for the UK was currently moderate, but this would change should there be a sustained transmission in Europe or in any country that had close connections with the UK and or the failure of certain countries to reduce the spread of the virus.”

However, the altered version of the minute published by the Welsh Government omitted the crucial phrase “and there had been no imported cases into the UK”, reading: “The Minister for Health and Social Services provided Cabinet with an update on the coronavirus virus (Covid-19). The Minister was issuing weekly written statements to Senedd Members and the chief medical officer was also providing regular updates for the public and had issued guidance to those who may develop symptoms after returning from abroad.

“Travel advice had recently been updated to reflect the increase in cases in a number of countries including Italy. Furthermore the Public Health Wales website was being updated on a daily basis.

“The worldwide response was still in the containment stage, and risk assessment for the UK was currently moderate, but this would change should there be a sustained transmission in Europe or in any country that had close connections with the UK and or the failure of certain countries to reduce the spread of the virus.”

Mr Andrews posted a thread to X, formerly Twitter, that pointed out the change. He stated: “It looks like the Covid Inquiry has draft minutes, presumably circulated by the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretariat after the meeting. Minutes of course can be corrected following the meeting and before publication. It would be interesting to know what requests were made for correction.”

We asked the Welsh Government for a statement explaining what had happened. A spokesman for the Welsh Government would only say: “As you know, we are not commenting on matters relating to the inquiry whilst the hearings are underway in Wales.”

Fear

Meanwhile senior Welsh Labour figures have spoken to Nation.Cymru expressing their fear of the consequences for the party if Mr Gething emerges as the winner of the leadership contest when the result is declared on March 16

Sources close to both campaign teams have suggested that Mr Gething, currently the Economy Minister, is leading Mr Miles, the Education Minister because of the support he is getting from union affiliate members, who greatly outnumber ordinary party members.

While Labour is thought to have around 16,000 members in Wales, there are more than 100,000 affiliated members via their trade unions and other societies affiliated to the party. Because Mr Gething has been nominated by the so-called “Big Six” trade unions, his campaign team has access to union members in a way Mr Miles does not.

One senior Welsh Labour figure, who supports Mr Miles, told us: “The revelation about the huge donations to Vaughan Gething from a convicted polluter came a few days after voting began. Usually, people who are going to vote do so very soon after the ballot opens or they don’t vote at all.

“We are doing everything we can to encourage people who haven’t voted to vote for Jeremy Miles. At present the team think Jeremy is on about 55% of the vote with party members, but his lead is overhauled when the affiliate vote is taken into account. If Vaughan Gething wins, he will be tainted from the outset, as will be the party and devolution. There will be attacks from all sides.”

Appalled

Another senior Labour figure said: “Privately, it is believed that Mark [Drakeford] will be appalled by these revelations, but he has decided to keep out of the contest, not wanting to appear partisan. There is a lot of anger and frustration at what has come out. Many of us fear that the progressive politics we have been championing will be seriously damaged, with people not seeing Vaughan Gething as a legitimate leader.

“All we can do is try to get as many people to vote for Jeremy Miles in the time left. If Vaughan Gething is elected, we will all be expected to rally round and show unity – something that will be very difficult and unconvincing.”