Welsh leader Vaughan Gething resigns after allies desert him over campaign donation scandal

The leader of Wales’ government, First Minister Vaughan Gething, said on July 16 he will resign after several members of his government quit over a campaign donation scandal.

The leader of Wales’ government, First Minister Vaughan Gething, said on July 16 he will resign after several members of his government quit over a campaign donation scandal.

Mr. Gething said that “I have this morning taken the difficult decision to begin the process of stepping down as leader of the Welsh Labour Party and, as a result, First Minister.”

The announcement came after four members of Mr. Gething’s semiautonomous government quit, demanding he resign.

Mr. Gething, the son of a Welsh father and a Zambian mother, made history in March when he was elected by Welsh lawmakers to head the Cardiff-based administration, becoming the first Black leader of a government in the U.K.

He has faced criticism for accepting £200,000 ($255,000) in donations during his leadership campaign from a recycling company whose owner had been found guilty of environmental offenses and breaching health and safety regulations. Another company with the same owner was given a loan by the government-owned Development Bank of Wales in 2023 when Mr. Gething was Economy Minister.

His leadership has crumbled since the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru ended a cooperation arrangement with Mr. Gething's minority Labour government in April.

Mr. Gething's relations with some in his own party soured when he fired government Minister Hannah Blythyn for allegedly leaking private phone messages about the COVID-19 pandemic to the media. She denies it.