Wales has a new First Minister. Her honeymoon won’t last long

Eluned Morgan has this morning been voted in as the new Welsh First Minister – the first woman ever to hold the position. The Labour member for Mid and West Wales was unopposed for the nomination within her party and won 28 votes out of a possible 60. The Conservatives’ Andrew RT Davies got 15 votes; Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth 12. She confirmed Huw Irranca-Davies as her deputy, adding: ‘They used to say behind every successful man is a woman: on this occasion, there will be an impressive man behind a woman.’ 

Members of the Senedd were recalled from summer recess for the vote, which came after former first minister Vaughan Gething was forced to step down last month – lasting just 118 days in the job. Gething, Wales’s shortest-serving FM, was dogged throughout his time in office by a row over a £200,000 donation accepted during his leadership campaign and his decision to sack a cabinet minister, alleging that she was the source of a story about him deleting messages from a group chat during the pandemic.