Wales First Minister denies he misled Covid inquiry over deleted messages

The First Minister of Wales has denied that he lied to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry after messages emerged appearing to contradict his evidence to the pandemic probe.

Vaughan Gething, who was the health minister during the pandemic, told the inquiry in March that his lost WhatsApp messages were not deleted by him but by the Senedd’s IT team during a security rebuild.

He said the lost information was a “real embarrassment” but a message leaked to the Nation.Cymru news website casts doubt on Mr Gething’s version of events.

In a message posted to a ministerial group chat on August 17 2020, Mr Gething wrote: “I’m deleting the messages in this group.

“They can be captured in an FOI (Freedom of Information request) and I think we are in the right place on the choice being made.”

Mr Gething, who became First Minister in March, told plenary the leaked message was from a section of an iMessage group chat with other Labour ministers and related to internal discussions within the Senedd Labour group.

He denied the message contradicted the evidence he had given to the Covid-19 inquiry when he stated Senedd IT staff had deleted some of his WhatsApp messages after handing in the handset for maintenance.

“In my witness statements (to the public inquiry), I set out in some detail honestly and fully how messages have been retained and stored to ensure that a proper record of all choices made by me and other ministers have been captured and provided to the inquiry,” Mr Gething said, in reply to a question from Conservative opposition leader Andrew RT Davies.

“The screenshot that you refer to is actually from a conversation between ministers that relates to a Labour group meeting in August 2020.

“It is not about decision making to do with the pandemic, it’s about comments that colleagues make to and about each other.

“It’s about ensuring that we don’t provide things that are potentially embarrassing, but not those things that affect any information about decision making during the pandemic.”

In further questions, Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth accused Mr Gething of committing perjury in the evidence he gave under oath to the inquiry.

“That is an extraordinary accusation to make, absent of context or fact of what’s happening at the time,” Mr Gething said in reply.

“The individual message relates to a discussion within the Labour group and about how people do and talk to each other.

“It’s essentially an appeal for people to consider what they have to say, as you’ll recall I had a difficult experience during some of that during the pandemic.

“This is actually about how we talk to each other and about each other, not about information that has been provided.

“I reject completely the suggestion that I have not been honest with the Covid-19 Inquiry.

“It matters to me that that inquiry has a full record of what we did and why.

“I’ve given evidence at length on this in writing and in person and I expect to do so again, and I’d ask the member to think again about his accusation that I have committed perjury.

“That is a serious matter and not one that I think he should lightly make.”

Mr Gething added: “I’m entirely relaxed about the screenshot and its context being seen by the inquiry.

“I have already asked the full unredacted screenshot is shared with the Covid-19 Inquiry.

“If they want to question me about it, I will have no difficulty at all and appearing before them and having the conversation.

“I think it’s important that we focus on what we did and why and the full information that has been shared with the inquiry about why we made decisions during that extraordinary time.

“August 2020 is nearly four years ago but I am still affected on a regular basis by the choices that we had to make and the pressure that we were under.

“I have been and will continue to be entirely honest and transparent with the inquiry about what I did and why and the choices that I helped to make to try to keep our country safe.”

A spokesman for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry confirmed it has been made aware of the message and is now considering whether Mr Gething will need to provide further information.

Mr Gething has come under sustained pressure in recent weeks, with repeated calls for an investigation into donations he received while running to be Welsh Labour leader.

Last week in the Senedd he survived a vote calling for an independent inquiry into the £200,000 donation he took from a man convicted of environmental offences.

Opposition groups have raised concerns that it could be a possible conflict of interest and breach of the ministerial code while members of his own benches have questioned his decision-making.

Former Labour minister Lee Waters went so far as to question his leader’s judgment in taking the money.