Vaughan Gething | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2024 | |
First Minister of Wales | |
In office 20 March 2024 – 5 August 2024 | |
Monarch | Charles III |
Preceded by | Mark Drakeford |
Succeeded by | Eluned Morgan |
Leader of Welsh Labour | |
In office 16 March 2024 – 24 July 2024 | |
Deputy | Carolyn Harris |
Preceded by | Mark Drakeford |
Succeeded by | Eluned Morgan |
Minister for the Economy | |
In office 13 May 2021 – 20 March 2024 | |
First Minister | Mark Drakeford |
Preceded by | Ken Skates |
Succeeded by | Jeremy Miles |
Minister for Health and Social Services | |
In office 19 May 2016 – 13 May 2021 | |
First Minister | Carwyn Jones Mark Drakeford |
Preceded by | Mark Drakeford |
Succeeded by | Eluned Morgan |
Deputy Minister for Health | |
In office 11 September 2014 – 19 May 2016[1] | |
First Minister | Carwyn Jones |
Minister | Mark Drakeford |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | Rebecca Evans |
Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty | |
In office 26 June 2013[2] – 11 September 2014 | |
First Minister | Carwyn Jones |
Minister | Jeffrey Cuthbert |
Member of the Senedd for Cardiff South and Penarth | |
Assumed office 6 May 2011 | |
Preceded by | Lorraine Barrett |
Majority | 10,606 (29.2%) |
Personal details | |
Born | [3] Lusaka, Zambia[4] | 15 March 1974
Nationality | Welsh |
Political party | Labour and Co-operative |
Spouse | Michelle Gething |
Children | 1 |
Alma mater | Aberystwyth University University of Cardiff |
Occupation | Solicitor, trade unionist |
Signature | ![]() |
Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething (born 15 March 1974)[3] is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative Party politician who served as First Minister of Wales from March to August 2024, and served as leader of Welsh Labour from March to July 2024, making him the first black[5] leader of any European country.[6][7] Gething previously served as the Minister for Health and Social Services from 2016 to 2021 and Minister for the Economy from 2021 to 2024. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2011.
Born in Zambia, Gething studied at Beaminster Comprehensive and Sixth Form in Dorset, followed by Aberystwyth University, where he graduated with a degree in Law in 1999; he then attended the Cardiff Law School, at the University of Cardiff. Having completed his training as a solicitor with the trade union firm Thompsons in Cardiff in 2001, Gething chose to specialise in employment law. Gething joined the Labour Party when he was 17. He contested Mid and West Wales for Labour in the inaugural elections to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, but was not elected. He served as a councillor from 2004 to 2008, representing Butetown electoral ward on Cardiff Council. In the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election, Gething was selected as the Welsh Labour candidate for the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency in the Senedd. He increased the Labour vote with a swing of 12.5%. At the following 2016 election, Gething was re-elected.
Gething served in Mark Drakeford's government as Minister for Health; his tenure was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2024, Gething won the Welsh Labour leadership election to replace Drakeford and become First Minister. Following losing a vote of no confidence motion tabled by the Welsh Conservatives and criticism over a campaign donation of £200,000, and the resignation of four cabinet ministers, in July 2024 Gething resigned as First Minister, which will formally take effect when his successor, Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely, is elected after she won the July Welsh Labour leadership election. He formally resigned to The King on 5 August 2024.[8]