Who is Vaughan Gething? A guide to Wales Labour leader hopeful

Wales’ Economy Minister Vaughan Gething is one of the two men competing to be the country’s next first minister.

Here’s what you need to know about him – the BBC has also published a profile of his rival, Education Minister Jeremy Miles.

This is his second run at the top job

He also stood in 2018, coming second to Mark Drakeford in the race to succeed Carwyn Jones

He was born in Zambia

His Welsh father, a vet from Ogmore-by-Sea in Vale of Glamorgan, met his mother – a chicken farmer – while he was working in the southern African country.

Mr Gething was born in the capital Lusaka in 1974 and the family moved to Britain two years later. His father was offered a job near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, but Mr Gething says the offer was withdrawn when his father arrived with a black family.

He would be Wales’ first black leader if he wins

Mr Gething would become the fifth person to lead Wales as first minister since devolution began in 1999, following in the footsteps of Alun Michael, Rhodri Morgan, Carwyn Jones and Mark Drakeford. He would be the first black politician to do so.

He was in charge of health in Wales during the pandemic

Mr Gething was health minister between 2016 and May 2021, and oversaw Wales’ initial response to Covid. He says that experience would stand him in good stead to be first minister, but he has also been criticised after admitting he had not read key documents relating to pandemic planning.

He beat Wales’ first black head teacher to become a councillor

Mr Gething was elected councillor for the Butetown area of Cardiff in 2004, beating the previous councillor, independent Betty Campbell, by just two votes.

She was Wales’ first black head teacher and a statue in her honour was unveiled in Cardiff city centre in 2021, five years after she died.