It's time for the Labour Senedd group to step up and tell Gething to go

"It’s time for Labour MSs to reach a collective decision that it’s time for Vaughan Gething to go, and for the necessary steps to be taken to achieve that end."  I agree, but perhaps in doing so VG could also be told by his colleagues "...there is a route back for [him] to take up a government position again in future."  I believe disciplinary action is due, following this sorry episode, but should be proportionate and measured. That which is necessary and sufficient, and no more. 

He's trotting out they were sick and couldn't vote line, whereas others voted remotely, the other MS is most telling as Mark Drakeford was conspicuous in his absence especially after the disagreement in Senedd yesterday on Education policy. If the former FM did not support you what is that saying.

Those crocodile tears... Pathetic

I'm trying not to kick a man when he's down, but just what did VG spend the £200, 000 on in a two person election, with no hustings, no leaflets, no elimination rounds, and a rigged union block vote? The greater issue here is the rot in the Labour Party in Wales, not in one individual.

What is the point of our democracy? Sunak and Gethin were both foisted upon us. Now, even with a no confidence vote the Senedd cannot get rid of Gethin. They call it democracy.

As someone else has rightly pointed out elsewhere, the issue in question is not just about the source of the donation, but what happened to the money afterwards, - how was it spent? I'd want to see full, itemised disclosure of receipts. The man himself has not a shred of honour or integrity and must surely go. But it goes further than that - questions must be asked and answers demanded as to the probity, accountability, and transparency of the 'Welsh' Labour Party's internal processes.

It’s a disgrace that this man refuses to resign. This man has no qualities that merit him holding this post. Those Labour members who didn’t vote him could have done so remotely but were the only ones with the courage to transcend their tribalism and do what was right. I.e., refuse to support a man who has brought the post into disrepute. Furthermore, Starmer’s Labour are hypocrites because a few months ago they were rushing to say that the Scotland SNP FM should resign because of an impending vote of no confidence there. Well he did resign and was replaced by John Sweeney. But uk Labour are silent now because Gething is Labour. There's not a shred of decency in them. No wonder politicians have such a bad public image.

What a day. Many of the worst aspects of politics were on display today. 'We know that most members of the Senedd Labour group are shocked and appalled by his behaviour, as are many grassroots members of the party as well as the wider population of Wales'. This did not stop them proceeding to put party before country today. We had political cowardice from two "ill" members who did not to turn up and vote allowing Mr Gething to suggest that the vote had been impacted by their absence thereby enabling him to question its legitimacy. We had Hefin David trying to poison the well by somehow suggesting that Mr Gethings race may have been a factor. Which is disgraceful and he should be ashamed of himself. 'The arguments put forward in his defence by his supporters in the Labour group and by himself were ludicrous and an insult to the people of Wales. Most of the Labour speakers ignored the specifics of why he was facing a no confidence motion, clutching at irrelevancies like the need to get rid of the Tory government at Westminster ...' Mr Shipton blaming the Tories/Westminster sadly has become a standard practice of Welsh Labour, although I hope (most probably in vain) that it is starting too lose its impact. Wales needs a recall system.

The essential point in today's events seems to me to be the absence and non-participation of the two Labour members who, apparently, were ill. The Senedd, or so I'm given to understand, doesn't operate like the UK parliament in Westminster, where the antique rules require MPs to be physically present in order to vote; in Cardiff Bay I hear that members unable to be present are entitled either to vote on-line or, alternatively, to nominate a colleague as a proxy to cast a vote on their behalf. The two absent Labour members seem to have opted to do neither, but simply failed to attend to cast their vote. Which leaves me with the impression that they were unwilling to support Mr Gething but, as the poet Alexander Pope pithily expressed it three centuries ago in his poetic 'Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot', were 'willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike'. Mr Gething may technically be within the rules in carrying on regardless, given that the particular motion in the Senedd today wasn't binding. But his credibility now is totally shot because he clearly lacks the confidence of an adequate number of his own aelodau seneddol. If he does pursue his intention to ignore what has happened, he'll inevitably bring our Welsh devolved government into serious disrepute.

Even if Gething manages to cling on, arguing that "we only lost the vote because two of our people were off sick" (and if you believe that, then for £10 billion I will sell you the perpetual naming rights to the third bridge over the Menai Strait), I don't see how it saves him. Unless Gething has them both locked up in his garden shed, at some point Blythyn and Waters are going to resurface, and then the opposition can just hold another confidence vote. They can't pull the sickie ruse twice.

Shows how ignorant the Westminster Labour party is of anything happening in Wales... they are happily campaigning with him one minute, now they are probably deciding his fate. They are probably deciding do we distance ourselves and ride it out until after the election or tell him to go as soon as possible.

Gething’s like the muppet Boris Johnson, but on steroids. Anyone who moaned about Johnson not being kicked out cannot possibly want this chancer to stay. The UK is laughing at the ludicrous parish council in Cardiff Bay: they need to get their act together, and quickly. It’s embarrassing.

There is little to add to this debate - and yet there is. During the debate, Hefin David astonishingly suggested that the no confidence vote was an ethnic issue - the motion was not political, the F M was attacked because of his colour. Aside form the fact that the sleepy Presiding Officer should have pulled him up on this, I for one - and I'm sure the people of Wales feel the same - am disgusted at the suggestion. So a question now for Hefin David - how low can you go?

Gething has to go and the sooner the better. He seems to have no integrity, he is also incompetent, of poor judgement and amoral.