1. Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething was born on 15 March 1974 and 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 leader of any European country.
Vaughan Gething has been the Member of the Senedd for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2011.
Vaughan Gething moved to Britain as a child and studied law at Aberystwyth University and Cardiff Law School, at the University of Cardiff.
Vaughan Gething trained as a solicitor with Cardiff-based firm Thompsons and subsequently specialised in employment law.
Vaughan Gething joined the Labour Party when he was 17 and contested Mid and West Wales for Labour in the inaugural elections to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999.
Vaughan Gething later represented Butetown electoral ward on Cardiff Council from 2004 to 2008.
Vaughan Gething was elected to the Senedd at the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election, representing the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency.
Vaughan Gething was re-elected at the 2016 election and was appointed Minister for Health and Social Services in Mark Drakeford's government.
Vaughan Gething subsequently served as Minister for the Economy from 2021 to 2024.
Vaughan Gething was sworn in as First Minister in March 2024.
Vaughan Gething initially refused to resign, sparking a government crisis, but following a mass resignation of cabinet ministers in July 2024 announced his impending resignation.
Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething was born on 15 March 1974 in Lusaka, Zambia, where his father, a white Welsh veterinarian from Ogmore-by-Sea in Glamorgan, met his mother, who is a black Zambian and was working as a chicken farmer.
Vaughan Gething describes his father as "a white Welsh economic migrant".
Vaughan 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 University of Cardiff Law School, University of Wales.
In 2008, at the age of 34, Vaughan Gething became the youngest President of Wales TUC, becoming the first black person to serve in the role.
Vaughan Gething joined the Labour Party when he was 17, to campaign in the 1992 UK general election.
Vaughan Gething contested Mid and West Wales for Labour in the inaugural elections to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, but was not elected.
Vaughan Gething served as a councillor from 2004 to 2008, representing Butetown electoral ward on Cardiff Council, having been elected with a majority of two votes over candidate Betty Campbell.
On 13 May 2021, Vaughan Gething was appointed as new Minister for the Economy, replacing Ken Skates.
Vaughan Gething served as the Welsh Minister for Health and Social Services during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
On 12 March 2020, despite a steady surge in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wales and other sporting events getting cancelled, Vaughan Gething resisted calls to postpone a rugby union match between Wales and Scotland at the Principality Stadium, which was due to be sold-out with 74,000 spectators.
On 22 April 2020, Vaughan Gething was caught swearing about fellow Labour MS Jenny Rathbone during a virtual session of the Senedd on Zoom.
Vaughan Gething denied the accusations, and the Welsh Government stated nothing he had done contravened such regulations.
Vaughan Gething was questioned at the COVID-19 Inquiry in July 2023, due to his former role as Wales' Minister for Health during the COVID-19 pandemic; in his deposition, he admitted that he had never read a report on Exercise Cygnus, a simulation exercise to estimate the impact of a hypothetical influenza pandemic on the UK population.
In December 2023, Vaughan Gething became one of two candidates in the Welsh Labour leadership election to replace Drakeford as party leader and Wales' First Minister.
An unnamed Unite official was quoted by BBC News as saying that the nomination of Vaughan Gething was a "shocking mess".
Journalist Martin Shipton later uncovered that Vaughan Gething had only joined Unite a few months beforehand.
Vaughan Gething was officially nominated as First Minister by the Senedd on 20 March 2024, and presented his cabinet the following day.
Vaughan Gething was appointed to the Privy Council on 28 March 2024 as part of the 2024 Special Honours.
Vaughan Gething was sworn in as a member of the privy council on 10 April 2024 at Buckingham Palace, entitling him to the honorific prefix "The Right Honourable" for life.
Vaughan Gething is a member of the trade unions GMB, UNISON and Unite.