Vaughan Gething faces more questions after admitting deleting phone messages

Wales' First Minister told colleagues during the Covid pandemic he was deleting messages because he could later be forced to release them, a leaked message shows. Vaughan Gething, who was health minister at the time, told ministerial colleagues he was deleting messages because otherwise they could later be released via a Freedom of Information request.

He wrote to a group of other cabinet ministers on August 17, 2020: "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." The message's existence was first reported by Nation Cymru.

WalesOnline has now seen a thread of the conversation. The thread, involving 10 unnamed people, was carried on via iMessage and referenced a Labour group meeting taking place at 4pm on August 17. The other contributors' names are not being made public and personal information is being redacted by the Welsh Government.

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A source close to the First Minister said Mr Gething sent the message as a warning to colleagues to avoid any personal comments about colleagues later which could later be made public and cause embarrassment. They say the now First Minister's comments on oath to the Covid inquiry still stand and the thread has been sent to the Covid inquiry. We have been told that despite saying he was deleting the messages, Mr Gething was not.

The initial messages are referencing a meeting of the Labour group of Senedd members. The thread is from the date the Welsh Government announced that A-level and GCSE students would be awarded the grades estimated for them by their teachers - an algorithm. There is then a message in the thread referencing an "algorithm" but creating one to replace one of their unnamed colleagues.

A spokesperson for the Covid inquiry says they have been made aware of the messages and are considering whether Mr Gething will be asked to give further evidence as a result.

The Freedom of Information Act provides public access to information held by public authorities, including government departments, who are obliged to publish certain information about their activities if requested to do so by members of the public. When he gave evidence to the Covid inquiry Mr Gething said he was not able to provide copies of any messages from his Senedd-issued phone because they had been deleted after an upgrade by the Senedd's IT team. He is now being accused of misleading the inquiry.

The Welsh Government has declined to comment on the leaked message but there are calls for Mr Gething to be recalled to the Covid inquiry. A spokesperson for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry said in response: "These reports have been brought to the attention of the inquiry this morning. The inquiry is considering the information available and whether it is necessary to seek further evidence from Mr Gething."

During the inquiry's spell in Wales Mr Gething said said that between January 2020 and May 2022 he had two Welsh Government mobile phones, which did not have WhatsApp, and two Senedd mobile phones, which did. The first Senedd phone was given to him in January 2020 and handed back in March 2022. He admitted using that phone to text and WhatsApp other ministers, officials, and special advisers and was part of a ministerial WhatsApp group. You can catch up on the evidence he gave to the inquiry here.

He told the inquiry during his evidence on March 12, 2024: "You’ll have seen there was a ministerial WhatsApp group and within that there were incidental messages around: 'Have a look at what we’re doing', 'This is what I think we’re going to need to do', 'check your government device', essentially."

He was part of a ministerial group involving then-First Minister Mark Drakeford and another called "schools and Covid" including then-education minister Kirsty Williams and climate change minister Julie James. He also had a separate group with Kirsty Williams.

But he admitted having no access to "any of the texts or WhatsApp messages that you sent during your time as minister for health and social services". He said all messages from his first Senedd phone were transferred to a second one which he was given July 2021 onwards but when it was taken for maintenance in July 2022 he lost all the messages.

"When I moved from my first Senedd mobile to my second one I did actually have access to all the messages on my new Senedd phone. What then happened was... that, following a security rebuild, all of the WhatsApp messages were wiped. That includes all my personal ones as well, things that had nothing to do with the government. So messages with my family, for example. So everything went," he said, adding: "I would much prefer it if I’d been able to so you could have seen what was in them and what was not in them."

Mr Gething has been under pressure since becoming First Minister in March over the size of donations made to his leadership campaign. Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said the latest allegations around WhatsApp showed a "blatant disregard" for honesty and transparency and further undermined trust in the First Minister.

"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 get to the bottom of government decisions. We all sought transparency but were told all was in the open 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 on the back of his donations scandal. The leaked message shows that the Welsh Labour cabinet was complicit in allowing this deception. Baroness Hallett, as chair of the inquiry, should immediately recall Vaughan Gething to give clarity on 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."

The Welsh Conservatives group leader, Andrew RT Davies, has written to the chair of the UK Covid inquiry to request that Mr Gething be recalled to the inquiry. In a statement Mr RT Davies said: "The cloak and dagger decision-making in the Labour Welsh Government is clear to see. Decisions made in these WhatsApp groups have led to lives lost and businesses shut, so with evidence suggesting that the First Minister deliberately deleted important exchanges, it’s 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."

An earlier version of this story suggested they were WhatsApp messages but we are now led to believe they were phone messages.