British politics is Gething worse and worse

Sam Bidwell has a useful Critic piece on Vaughan Gething and what Bidwell calls the low-scrutiny environment of Welsh politics.

British politics is Gething worse and worse

Identity is being prioritised over competence and ambition

Despite our traditional reputation for political stability, Britain has played host to a number of short-lived political leaders over the past few years. From Liz Truss’ lettuce-length stint as Prime Minister to Humza Yousaf’s ill-fated time as Holyrood chief, political longevity seems hard to come by in an era of economic stagnation, declining cohesion, and ever-expanding bureaucracy.

The most recent addition to this political rogue’s gallery is Vaughan Gething, Labour’s latest First Minister of Wales, who was turfed out of office earlier this week after just four months in post. Gething’s resignation follows revelations about a £200,000 donation to his leadership campaign from a company owned by a man prosecuted twice for environmental offences in the 2010s. He refused to quit after losing a vote of confidence in the Senedd, Wales’ Parliament, but was finally forced out after four ministers resigned from his government on Tuesday.

The whole piece is well worth reading as it hammers home a particularly important point – identity politics is a low-scrutiny environment. It is part of the wider managerial trend where a favoured political identity often kicks integrity and ability off the recruitment tick box.

So what lessons can we learn from the sorry tale of Vaughan Gething? For one, it should remind us that not even relatively homogenous Wales is safe from the all-consuming diversity lobby. In fact, the low-accountability environment of devolved politics has served as a perfect breeding ground for these ideas.

It should also remind us that, if we’re not careful, Britain will soon become a country in which political success is a feature of identity politics rather than of competence. As Keir Starmer’s comments demonstrate, this assumption is already well-rooted amongst senior Labour figures. Continue along our current trajectory, and Britain is bound to be cursed with more Vaughan Gethings.