Vaughan Gething

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The Right Honourable Vaughan Gething MS
Official portrait, 2024
First Minister of Wales
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 March 2024
Monarch	Charles III
Preceded by	Mark Drakeford
Succeeded by	TBC
Leader of Welsh Labour
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 March 2024
Deputy	Carolyn Harris
Preceded by	Mark Drakeford
Succeeded by	TBC
Minister for the Economy
In office 13 May 2021 – 20 March 2024
First Minister	Mark Drakeford
Preceded by	Ken Skates
Succeeded by	Jeremy Miles
Minister for Health and Social Services
In office 19 May 2016 – 13 May 2021
First Minister	Carwyn Jones Mark Drakeford
Preceded by	Mark Drakeford
Succeeded by	The Baroness Morgan of Ely
Deputy Minister for Health
In office 11 September 2014 – 19 May 2016[1]
First Minister	Carwyn Jones
Minister	Mark Drakeford
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Rebecca Evans
Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty
In office 26 June 2013[2] – 11 September 2014
First Minister	Carwyn Jones
Minister	Jeffrey Cuthbert
Member of the Senedd for Cardiff South and Penarth
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2011
Preceded by	Lorraine Barrett
Majority	10,606 (29.2%)
Personal details
Born	1974 Lusaka, Zambia[3]
Nationality	Welsh
Political party	Labour and Co-operative
Spouse	Michelle Gething
Alma mater	Aberystwyth University University of Cardiff
Occupation	Solicitor, trade unionist
Signature

Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething (born 1974) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative Party politician who is currently serving as First Minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour since 2024, making him the first black^[4] leader of any European country.^[5][6] Gething previously served as the Minister for Health and Social Services from 2016 to 2021 and Minister for the Economy from 2021 to 2024. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2011.

Born in Zambia, 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 Cardiff Law School, at the University of Cardiff. Having completed his training as a solicitor with the trade union firm Thompsons in Cardiff in 2001, Gething chose to specialise in employment law. Gething joined the Labour Party when he was 17. He contested Mid and West Wales for Labour in the inaugural elections to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, but was not elected. He served as a councillor from 2004 to 2008, representing Butetown electoral ward on Cardiff Council. In the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election, Gething was selected as the Welsh Labour candidate for the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency in the Senedd. He increased the Labour vote with a swing of 12.5%. At the following 2016 election, Gething was re-elected.

Gething served in Mark Drakeford's government as Minister for Health; his tenure was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2024, Gething won the Welsh Labour leadership election to replace Drakeford and become First Minister. Following losing a vote of no confidence motion tabled by the Welsh Conservatives and criticism over a campaign donation of £200,000, and the resignation of four cabinet minsters, in July 2024 Gething announced his pending resignation as First Minister, which will formally take effect when his successor is elected in the next Welsh Labour leadership election.