Vaughan Gething says leak clearly came from sacked minister’s phone- QHN

It was “clear” that leaked texts which revealed the first minister told a pandemic-era group chat he was deleting messages came from the phone of a minister he sacked, Vaughan Gething has said.

The first minister has defended his decision to dismiss Hannah Blythyn after she broke her silence and criticised him publicly on Tuesday, telling MSs the evidence had been straightforward.

He said he had put the “interests of the country” ahead of himself in sacking her.

Ms Blythyn looked on as Mr Gething delivered his statement to a tense and sombre session of the Welsh Parliament, shaking her head and looking upset as the first minister spoke.

The first minister declined to offer any further evidence, unless everyone potentially named in the messages agreed.

Mr Gething was asked to come to the Senedd on Wednesday by the Welsh Conservatives to respond to Ms Blythyn’s personal statement from the day before.

The MS for Delyn had denied leaking to the media, and said she was not shown any evidence before she was sacked, was not told she was being investigated, and that the situation left her with acute anxiety and stress.

The message, originally published by the Nation.Cymru website, showed that Mr Gething had told a group of ministers that he was deleting messages from the group.

It had led to questions about whether he had misled the Covid inquiry.

Mr Gething told the Senedd the government had received a “photograph of a fragment of an iMessage chat from a journalist and were asked to comment on its content”.

“It was from one group chat set up for one day in August 2020 with 11 Welsh Labour ministers and deputy ministers as members.

“Having crossed checked the photograph with a full set of messages, it became clear that the photograph could only have been a one member’s phone.”

Mr Gething said he spoke to her face to face on 16 May and asked her to leave the government.