16-07-2025
Mark Drakeford says Vaughan Gething 'deserved better' than his short-lived time as First Minister
Former First Minister Mark Drakeford said his successor Vaughan Gething "deserved better" than his short-lived premiership.
Mr Gething was in the top position for four months before he resigned. His time in office was dogged by questions over a £200,000 campaign donation from a businessman convicted of environmental offences.
Speaking to ITV Wales' Sharp End, his predecessor Mark Drakeford said he looks back on that time "with a great deal of sadness".
He said: "I thought Vaughan deserved much better.
"I think he was well prepared to be a First Minister. I think that he would have been a very good First Minister, and it is that hubristic sense you get, isn't it, is that somehow the thing that in the end made it all unwind was a decision he himself made that was the wrong decision, but he definitely deserved better."
Mr Gething received £200,000 in a campaign donation by the director of Dauson Environmental Group Ltd, David Neal, who was convicted twice for environmental offences.
Neal was given a suspended prison sentence in 2013 for illegally dumping waste on a conservation site on the Gwent Levels. His companies Atlantic Recycling and Neal Soil Suppliers were also prosecuted and ordered to pay fines and costs of £202,000.
There have also been concerns about a possible conflict of interest in the money coming from a company which was loaned £400,000 by the Welsh Government-owned Development Bank of Wales (DBW).
The loan from the DBW was given to Neal Soil Suppliers – a subsidiary of Dauson – in 2023 to help purchase a solar farm, at a time when Mr Gething was Economy Minister.
Mr Gething has always insisted that he cannot take any decision relating to Dauson – which is based in his constituency – and the DBW is entirely independent of ministers.
His four months in the top job also saw a row over a leaked phone message, which led to him sacking one of his ministers and Plaid Cymru's withdrawal of support for his Government.
Although still a Member of the Senedd, he has since kept a low profile, opting not to take a position in the cabinet.
Sharp End's Rob Osborne asked fellow former First Minister Mark Drakeford: "There is life after being First Minister - should he get back out there and do something now?"
"I hope he will," Drakeford said.
"I hope he'll find something that he wants to do and enjoys doing.
"I don't think if what had happened to him had happened to me, I don't think I'd ever want to set foot in here [The Senedd] again. But he comes very regularly. He speaks in debates.
"He's very good at all of that. And he must be, you know, a lot of it must be looking ahead, must it? And hoping to find something worthwhile that will use his very real talent."
In September last year, Mr Gething announced he would be stepping down at the next Senedd election. The former lawyer has represented Cardiff South and Penarth in the Senedd since 2011 and had served as Economy Minister and Health Minister in Mark Drakeford's Government during the pandemic.
His election as First Minister in March 2024 made him the first black leader of any European country.
