Starmerite Vaughan Gething has narrowly won the Welsh Labour leadership election. His victory was accompanied by controversy, however, with reports of dodgy dealings and donations.
Gething officially took over the position of Welsh First Minister yesterday. He assumes office at a time of explosive volatility – in Wales, in Britain, and internationally.
Thousands of jobs are at risk in Port Talbot. Junior doctors and consultants in the BMA are back on strike next week. Welsh farmers are in revolt. And rubbish is piling high on the streets of Cardiff, as bin workers continue their long-running dispute.
Yet in his campaign, Gething said nothing to suggest that will do anything to seriously address the problems facing workers in Wales. There was not one mention in his manifesto of Port Talbot, or of any of these strikes and struggles – despite the fact that he is a former president of the Welsh TUC.
False hopes
This begs the question: why did all six of the largest trade unions in Wales not only back Gething, but also pour significant resources into persuading their members to do so too?
In truth, the unions have invested far more time and energy into getting Gething elected than they have in organising a genuine fightback against the bosses’ attacks.
In Port Talbot for instance, the rallying cry from Unite has been one of ‘wait for Starmer’. This passive, timid approach has been disastrous. Tata has run rings around the union leaders, and has already begun shutting down the steelworks.
This strategy of placing hopes in these ‘Labour’ leaders has created nothing but disillusionment and demoralisation amongst workers.
Instead of facilitating a managed decline, the union leaders should be mobilising workers to fight for their jobs and their communities.
In the bosses’ pockets
Gething’s appointment has been praised by Keir Starmer as “speak[ing] to the values of modern-day Wales”. In contrast to Gething’s Corbyn-supporting predecessor, Mark Drakeford, ‘Sir’ Starmer knows he can rely on the new Welsh Labour leader.
Like Starmer, Gething has shown that he is prepared to kneel before the capitalists and do their bidding.
During Gething’s campaign, for example, he accepted donations amounting to £200,000 from David John Neal – the owner of companies found to have illegally dumped waste in the Gwent Levels. Furthermore, in 2016, Gething asked Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to ease restrictions on a firm run by this same businessman.
This shows where Vaughan Gething’s real allegiances lie. He is no friend of the working class or the environment, but yet another politician in the pockets of the capitalist class.
Battlelines being drawn
Despite these murky matters, Gething’s victory has been celebrated in the establishment press.
For Gething’s supporters, it doesn’t matter if he accepts shady donations. It doesn’t matter if he has no plan to help workers. In fact, it doesn’t matter if has no plan at all – because he is the first Black head of government in Europe.
Gething can now take his place in the pantheon of ‘diverse’ opponents of the working class, alongside Rishi Sunak, Barack Obama, and Margaret Thatcher. No matter their identity, the common thread is clear: all these leaders, Gething included, stand on the side of the ruling class.
Workers in Wales will have no great expectations in Gething. Any illusions that do exist, primarily thanks to unwarranted praise from the trade union leaders, will quickly be burnt away on the basis of events.
As the crisis of capitalism deepens in Wales, the class battlelines will sharpen. In these conditions, workers must rely only on their own strength – not on supposed saviours whose real loyalty lies with the capitalist class.
