AMN/ WEB DESK
Vaughan Gething beat Jeremy Miles to narrowly win the Welsh Labour leadership election. His election makes him the new first minister of Wales and the first-ever Black leader of a European country.
Gething’s election as the next leader of Wales also marks a milestone as for the first time, none of the UK’s four main governments is led by a white man.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has Indian heritage and is Britain’s first Hindu leader. Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf – who, like Gething, heads a semi-autonomous government — comes from a Pakistani Muslim family. Northern Ireland’s regional administration is jointly led by two women, Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly. Fifty-year old Gething is the son of a Welsh father and a Zambian mother. He will appoint a cabinet this week. Before 2002, the country had never had a non-white Cabinet minister.
Sunak likes to point out that his Cabinet is one of the most diverse in British history. It includes Home Secretary James Cleverly and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who are Black, and Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho, whose parents immigrated from India.