It is impossible to think about Vaughan Gething’s victory in the Welsh Labour leadership election without reference to the recent news about a Tory donor’s vicious racist rant against Westminster’s first Black female MP, Diane Abbott. Gething won the election on Saturday with 51.7% of the vote. When he succeeds Mark Drakeford as Wales’s first minister following a vote in the Senedd later this week, Gething will become the first Black head of government in the whole of Europe. This alone is cause to celebrate.
Yet Gething’s narrow victory over his opponent, Jeremy Miles, has caused deep unease within his own party. It was secured through a ruthless combination of old Labour-style backroom machinations and New Labour-style willingness to accept a donation from a source many party members regard as incompatible with their core values. All six of the largest trade unions endorsed Gething on the basis of committee votes. Unite’s nomination followed a bizarre, last-minute swerve, when officials recalled a previously obscure rule that meant only Gething was eligible for their support. The unions that supported Gething poured significant resources into persuading members to vote for their man in the leadership election.
