Vaughan Gething MS: First Minister of Wales - What A Few Weeks He's Had...

Is Vaughan the driver of malfeasance in Welsh Government?

I was simply going to outline my dealings with Vaughan and his inaction regarding my claims of nepotism within the Welsh Government department, Visit Wales, but… Things have moved on apace… In the light of the ongoing rows regarding Vaughan’s lack of good judgement and claims of perjury at the Covid Inquiry can it be asserted that from the top down the Welsh Government and its employees captain a ship that is powered by nepotism, cover-ups and distraction?

Vaughan was minister for the economy and as such had overall ministerial responsibility for Visit Wales, through his deputy Dawn Bowden MS. I wrote to Vaughan on a shockingly high number of occasions, from August 25th through to October 3rd 2023. I say shockingly high as Vaughan did not respond, once. 13 times I received his automated responses. After five non-responses, on September 11th, I had the good fortune to bump into Vaughan outside of the Cathays Park government offices, myself having just attended a meeting with Visit Wales staff where no Visit Wales staff thought it useful to attend. I explained to Vaughan, on the street, my concerns and complaints. Vaughan said he would look into the matter. That was the last I heard from him.

This is a recording of a conversation I had with the security on duty that day and I urge you to listen to it as it tells the tale of cowards at Visit Wales who use public money to limit the growth of legitimate businesses in Wales and when questioned hide behind government security:

Vaughan knows the score

Vaughan is therefore fully aware that I accuse Visit Wales staff of either gross mismanagement or of nepotism, or both, and he also has most of my evidence which clearly shows one or the other.

Given that I evidenced many instances of Visit Wales staff not complying with their own rules for onboarding businesses to their platform, given that everyone from Vaughan down knows about my complaints in this matter and given that I am still waiting for engagement and action to rectify the issues that I raise I can only confirm that nepotism is at the heart of Welsh Governance. After all, surely, a good manager would have sorted out the wrongdoing, right?

And then the headlines…

Vaughan’s campaign fund, used to assist him in becoming the first minister was bolstered by a £200,000 donation that most now say should be handed back and the acceptance of which shows a distinct lack of judgement. But wait, Vaughan was a lawyer, so, lack of judgment, I don’t think so… The question over the donations scandal that we should be asking is what did David John Neal, convicted of environmental crimes and likely up on further charges in the near future, hope to gain from such unusually high for Wales campaign funding?

Then, more recently and with words lifted from the BBC - ‘Vaughan Gething told ministers during the pandemic that he was deleting messages from a group chat, it has emerged. The now first minister and then health minister warned colleagues in 2020 that the messages could be captured by the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act’. Vaughan could be forced to return to the Covid Inquiry to explain his assertion to that inquiry that he did not intentionally delete WhatsApp messages from government group chats. And the question has to be asked how often does Vaughan make the decision to delete messages that are part of the public record?

And just a couple of days ago he was meeting with the TATA steel executive, T V Narendran, the CEO and managing director of Tata Steel, who just a week earlier was in London talking to Trade Unions, the BBC, The Times and ITV, amongst others… The Welsh Government lied then when stating this was the first opportunity for Vauhgan to meet Tata since May. It is seen by most commentators that Vaughan is seeking to lead the narrative away from his dodgy dealings and lies to the Covid Inquiry by having news stories focus on his work to save jobs at Port Talbot. Or maybe I and most others are ‘old cynics’ in thinking of Vaughan in this manner.

Read my evidence

To see the bulk of the evidence, although there is very much that has been collated and I can supply on request, please see my submission to the Ombudsman for Wales and the supporting evidence. All of this evidence has been known to Visit Wales management, effectively since March of 2020 and in an up to date and detailed version since August of 2023.

I sent this email to Vaughan on September 18th 2023 and received no response:

Dear Vaughan, 

Thank you for meeting with me, outside of the government buildings in Cardiff, last Monday. 

I have amassed a great deal of evidence of what I can only describe as malfeasance in the delivery of the Visit Wales platform and despite years of effort on my part this continues today. 

You said you'd speak to Dawn Bowden and have her respond to me. Her office responded to me but the content simply showed that they had not read my emails, or had and had not understood this simple question 'why does Visit Wales continue to disallow my business, Wales Outdoors, access to its platform whilst continuing to, despite multiple promises over multiple years to the contrary, allow businesses delivering precisely what I offer a platform?' 

You are a government department and should impose your rules without prejudice. A level playing field is what I am after. 

Please meet with me given that no one at Visit Wales will. Indeed Visit Wales have not answered my emails, first sent in this round on August 6th, detailing specific businesses that they are platforming and that according to their own rules should not be platformed. I can show you live examples and so bring clarity to this issue quickly.

I seek engagement with the tourism industry from Visit Wales to allow guides to be listed on Visit Wales but as that is not on your own staffs agenda then I have to seek the removal of all those businesses from Visit Wales that deliver the kinds of guided walks that I offer. 

I've been asking for this since May 2020 and will once again be forced to court action and this time I am also minded to lobby tourism providers in Wales and picket all upcoming road shows. As mentioned at our meeting, if I have to, a judicial review is my final resort. 

I will be attending your office or meeting room at the government buildings in Cathay's for a meeting with yourself on Tuesday 3rd October at 3pm. If this is an inconvenient time then do let me know (Visit Wales did not offer me that courtesy) and please offer up an alternative date and time.

Andrew Lamb - Wales Outdoors

You can book our walks through the Wales Outdoors Website or, if you are a group, you can book us for a bespoke adventure, you choose the date and time, using the ‘Book Your Guide’ option.

1. Subscribing monthly via Substack

2. Making a one-off contribution via BuyMeACoffee

Your support is what allows these articles to keep being created and is enormously appreciated. Thank you.