VAUGHAN GETHING came under fresh pressure on Tuesday (May 7).

Wales’s First Minister, whose reputation hangs on a thread following a donations scandal, allegedly misled the UK Covid inquiry when he gave evidence in March.

GETHING’S CREDIBILITY TORPEDOED

Veteran reporter Martin Shipton revealed Mr Gething’s casual approach to truth in an article for Nation Cymru.

The First Minister gave evidence under oath, saying WhatsApp messages on his phone were accidentally deleted by Senedd IT staff.

However, a message leaked to Martin Shipton contradicts his account.

In a text message posted to the ministerial group chat on Monday, August 17 2020, when he was Health Minister, Mr Gething wrote: “I’m deleting the messages in this group. They can be captured in an FOI [Freedom of Information request] and I think we are all in the right place on the choice being made.”

Vaughan Gething is a solicitor. Giving apparently perjured evidence under oath to a statutory inquiry could have grave professional consequences.

The political consequences could be apocalyptic.

GETHING PUTS THE WHOLE WG IN THE CART

The interlocking issues for Mr Gething could not be more damaging.

If he lied to the Covid Inquiry under oath, his fellow MSs can have little faith that he is telling them the truth when he answers questions in the Senedd.

Secondly, it opens the door to questions about what else Welsh Government ministers and civil servants deleted for fear its content could embarrass them or be subject to disclosure later. For the avoidance of doubt, any other current or former ministers in the group chat who heard Mr Gething plead innocence and ignorance and stayed silent are also in the soup.

Moreover, the message’s leak from a ministerial WhatsApp group suggests its source is within Labour ranks in the Senedd and was either a group member or a person connected to a group member.

Finally, the content of the message makes it clear that messages were deliberately deleted to avoid being captured by a potential Freedom of Information Act request at a future date.

And it was Mr Gething who made the deletions on that basis.

COVER-UP AND DENIAL THREW PRESIDING OFFICER UNDER THE BUS

The First Minister cannot plead ignorance.

On March 11, the lead Counsel for the Covid Inquiry questioned him about the missing messages.

Tom Poole KC said: “You would accept, would you, that it’s not just important to retain records for an Inquiry of this nature but it is important for public accountability?”

Mr Gething responded: “Indeed, it’s important the public can see not just the choices we made but why we have made those choices.”

The Senedd’s Presiding Officer was inadvertently caught up in Mr Gething’s cover-up.
The day after Mr Gething gave evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry, the Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies, raised the messages’ loss.

Elin Jones MS intervened to say that she hoped Mr Davies was not criticising Senedd IT staff.

Neither Mr Davies nor Ms Jones could have known that Mr Gething had gone out of his way to delete messages because he did not want them revealed to the public.

Mr Gething never corrected the record or his evidence.

His discomfiture follows that of former First Minister Mark Drakeford, who denied using WhatsApp messages and only corrected the record when it was found he had.

OTHER MINISTERS ARE ‘COMPLICIT’

Covid Families for Justice Cymru said they wanted Mr Gething recalled to give evidence to Baroness Hallett’s Inquiry, adding: “We look forward to hearing the response from the UK Covid Inquiry to the news Vaughan Gethin deleted his ministerial messages.

“He said under oath that he had not.

“He might not have known there was a disappearing message function, but he definitely knew how to delete texts manually. They were a public record that could be published under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request!

“Which is exactly why he deleted them. The other ministers in the chat are complicit, too.”

CLOAK AND DAGGER DECISION MAKING

Andrew RT Davies MS, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, also called for Mr Gething’s recall by Baroness Hallett.

He said: “The cloak and dagger decision-making in the Labour Welsh Government is clear.

“Decisions made in these WhatsApp groups have led to lives lost and businesses shut.

“Evidence suggesting that the First Minister deliberately deleted important exchanges makes it obvious why Labour has blocked an independent Wales-specific COVID inquiry.

“In light of this, there is an even more compelling case for a COVID inquiry for Wales.”

A BLATANT DISREGARD FOR HONESTY

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said: “The revelation that Vaughan Gething, as the former Health Minister of Wales, deliberately deleted messages at the height of the pandemic strikes a devastating blow to those who lost loved ones and who, like us in Plaid Cymru, have long called for a Welsh inquiry to investigate Government decisions.

“We all sought transparency but were told everything was available for the UK Inquiry to see; this undermines any belief that that is the case.

“It shows blatant disregard for honesty and transparency, further undermining trust in the Labour First Minister following his donations scandal.

“The leaked message shows that the Welsh Labour Cabinet was complicit in allowing this deception.

“As chair of the Inquiry, Baroness Hallett should immediately recall Vaughan Gething to clarify what he said under oath.

“Vaughan Gething is running away from an independent investigation into a donation to his Labour leadership campaign but must not be allowed to dodge an investigation into this extremely serious matter.”