(Bloomberg) — Vaughan Gething's appointment as Wales' first minister this week marks a milestone in British history. This will be the first time that any of Britain's four main governments will be led by a white person.
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In fact, the Zambian-born economy minister's appointment as leader of Cardiff's devolved government will be the first time a black leader has been elected in a European country. Mr Gething's appointment will be formally confirmed by a vote in the Senedd on Wednesday following his election victory leading the ruling Welsh Labor Party.
Gething, 50, grew up in England before studying in Wales, where just 0.9% of the population identifies as black. The trained lawyer and former chairman of the Welsh Trades Union Congress narrowly defeated his cabinet colleague, Education Minister Jeremy Miles, on Saturday, gaining 51.7% of the vote.
Mr Gething joins British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, and Northern Ireland's Emma Little-Pengery and Michelle O'Neill as leaders of the UK's “four nations”. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is also from an ethnic minority.
“This is an important symbolic development that will resonate beyond Wales and the UK,” said Sundar Katwala, director of British Future, a UK-based think tank. “In the UK, it is clearly seen as part of a new trend of ethnic diversity at the top of government, but this is largely a surprising coincidence.”
Mr Katwala said the UK was “unique” in that ethnic minorities were represented across party lines, whereas in other regions ethnic minorities tended to be concentrated on one side of the political spectrum. In England and Wales, census data shows that the proportion of people who identify as non-white is increasing, reaching 18.3% of residents in 2021.
Like Mr. Sunak and Mr. Yousaf, Mr. Gething did not come to power in a general election but by winning a party congress after the resignation of the current leader. Mr Sunak lost to Liz Truss in his first bid for leadership in 2022. When she resigned in October of that year, Mr Sunak won the Conservative Party leadership, making her Prime Minister.
Mr Sunak, as the elected Prime Minister, is the head of government, while King Charles III is the head of state.
While the top job signals progress for minorities in Britain's political hierarchy, Mr Gething's appointment comes as Mr Sunak's Conservative Party is embroiled in uproar over racist comments allegedly made by its biggest donor. It was held at a time when
The Guardian reported that Frank Hester said that Diane Abbott made him want to “hate all black women” and that she “should be shot.” Hester has since said her words had “nothing to do with her gender or the color of her skin.”
Mr Sunak condemned the comments as “racist”, but rejected demands for the party to return the total £10.2 million ($13.1 million) donated by Mr Hester and his company Phoenix Partnership last year. . Mr Sunak has repeatedly pointed to the diversity of government as evidence that race is less of a barrier in Britain than in other countries.
“One of the things I'm really proud of is that I was our country's first British Asian prime minister, but I'm even more proud that when it happened it wasn't a big deal. '' he told the BBC last month. “That's because we are the most successful multiracial democracy in the world.”
–With assistance from Stuart Biggs.
(Adds details about British leadership in paragraph 8.)
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