A former partner at trade union firm Thompsons will succeed Mark Drakeford as first minister of Wales after winning the Welsh Labour leadership election. Vaughan Gething, currently minister for economy, will become the first black leader of a European country when he is confirmed this week.

Gething, who was standing in the election against another solicitor, Jeremy Miles, won the election with 51.7% of the vote.

Gething trained as a solicitor at Thompsons, which he joined in 2001. An employment specialist, he helped local trade union members fight for their employment rights. He left the firm in 2011 to become a Welsh Assembly member after winning the Cardiff South and Penarth seat.

Vaughan Gething

Gething won the election with 51.7% of the vote

Source: Alamy

Miles is minister for education and Welsh language, taught law at Warsaw University in Poland, immediately after graduating. His career includes senior legal and commercial posts at ITV and NBC Universal.

The leadership election was triggered by Drakeford’s announcement in December that he was standing down this month.

 

This article is now closed for comment.