The first black leader of a European nation has made history more than once during a rocky political career to date
Vaughan Gething describes himself as “a Welshman born in Zambia” , with his father, a vet from the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales, having met his mother, a Zambian chicken farmer, while he was working in southern Africa.
His parents experienced racism when the family moved to Britain and Gething joined the Labour party at the age of 17 after being inspired by articles about Nelson Mandela he read in on his newspaper round.
He studied at Aberystwyth and Cardiff universities, became the first black president of the National Union of Students Wales and went on to work as a trade union lawyer.
Gething, who turned 50 on Friday, made history in 2013 when he became the first black minister in any of the devolved nations. He then rose up the ministerial ladder and has worked as the health and, most recently, the economy minister.
The path has been rocky at times. He was the health minister during the Covid crisis and was criticised when he was pictured eating chips in a park with his family during lockdown. He insisted he had not broken the rules, but “chipgate” was damaging.
This week he had a difficult time at the UK Covid inquiry when he admitted all his WhatsApp messages from during the pandemic had vanished when his Senedd phone underwent a “security rebuild”.
In an interview with the Guardian, Gething said he wanted to be judged not on his skin colour but on his ability.
But, he said: “You can’t deny the historic nature of it.
