At midday today, Eluned Morgan became the first woman to lead the Welsh Labour Party. This is a ground-breaking step — she smashes another Welsh glass ceiling, becoming the first female First Minister of Wales. However, she is no winner. After Vaughan Gething stepped down last week, Labour has chosen a coronation not a contest. She is the “unity candidate” around which the party has gathered. While this may seem appealingly convenient, as someone who knows a little bit about replacing a woeful leader, I would be a little worried if I were Welsh Labour right now.
To say there has been something of a crisis in Welsh Labour is an understatement. Vaughan Gething finally realised the game was up when four senior ministers walked out of his government. Defiant to the end, he wailed that his victory in the Labour leadership contest earlier this year was “never accepted.” His implication is that this is because of his race, but really, it was his refusal to see his howling errors of judgement, most obvious of which was taking a £200,000 donation from a company run by a convicted environmental criminal.
Further mini-scandals followed: sacking a promising young minister he accused of leaking and accusations of lying to the Covid Inquiry; Mr Gething’s decision to dig in and fight on after losing a vote of confidence in the Senedd. The issue had genuine cut-through during the General Election, damaging Labour’s share of the vote. Finally, the men in grey suits took action and Gething had to go.
Without the financial impropriety, there are clear echoes of October 2022 when Conservative MPs withdrew their support from Liz Truss (although, what was that mini-Budget if not financial impropriety?). The weekend that follows lives vividly in my mind: would we have another contest? Would Boris come back? Or, recognising that the electorate must think we look about as professional as a group of drunk hippos, coalesce around one sensible leader? In the end, we took the final route and selected Rishi Sunak.
But no matter how well qualified Baroness Morgan is, it doesn’t mean the Labour membership will like her
Installing a new leader comes with its own problems — mainly from party members. The membership don’t like it when you tell them they got it wrong, and they definitely don’t like it when you take the choice away from them. Although it might be the grown-up thing to do, it’s hard to unite a party which never chose you in the first place. Ask Rishi Sunak all about that.
Eluned Morgan is a business-like, smart woman who has served the Labour Party all her life. A former MEP, she is the first Member of the House of Lords to serve as a national leader since the Marquess of Salisbury in 1902 (excepting Alec Douglas Home’s four day stint in 1963), although Baroness Morgan of Ely is currently on a “leave of absence” from the Lords.
But no matter how well qualified she is, it doesn’t mean the membership will like her. She was rejected in favour of Mark Drakeford back in 2018. Considering the problems that the Left has had with women over the years – how are they going to cope with a female leader imposed on them? Ask Theresa May all about that.
Today is a good day for women in politics. Another female leader. But for how long?
