Welsh politics has run primarily through one man for the last 5 years, and especially since the pandemic, Mark Drakeford, but he announced that he is set to stand down from his post once a replacement can be found, so we take a look at the two men vying for the role of First Minister, two cabinet veterans, Jeremy Miles and Vaughn Gething.
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00:00 Mark Drakeford entirely changed the stature of the First Minister's role, mainly through
00:07 the pandemic, and now the leadership race is set to be the biggest ever. Two men are
00:13 looking to take the role, Jeremy Miles and Vaughan Gething. Whoever wins between these
00:16 men will take charge of Welsh Labour, the Senedd and Welsh politics as a whole. So let's
00:21 get to know the candidates. Starting with Vaughan Gething, who's arguably had a higher
00:25 profile than his rival Jeremy Miles throughout his time in the Senedd, as he was Health Minister,
00:29 throughout the pandemic. Gething was actually born in Zambia in 1974 to a Welsh father and
00:35 Zambian mother, and moved to Wales when he was two. He spent time in his childhood in
00:39 England and graduated from a law degree at Aberystwyth University in 1999, and then studied
00:44 at the University of Cardiff Law School, University of Wales. He became the first mixed race president
00:50 of the Trade Union Committee Wales, while also running for various seats at UK and Welsh
00:54 elections. He was first elected as a Senedd member in 2011, and has held various roles
00:59 within the Cabinet ever since. He has been Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty between
01:03 2013 and 2014, before a reshuffle saw him become Deputy Minister for Health until 2016.
01:09 Then he assumed the role as Minister for Health and Social Services, which raised his profile
01:13 significantly through increased exposure throughout the pandemic. Later on in the pandemic in
01:19 May 2021, he became the Economy Minister, a role he has held since. He's been criticised
01:25 for some standoffish remarks made to journalists, and was caught swearing at a fellow Labour
01:29 Senedd member in a Zoom meeting when he failed to turn off his mic. He's seen as a somewhat
01:35 controversial figure who does come with bags of experience. The other candidate, Jeremy
01:40 Miles, has had a few years less experience, but has still held a number of important roles
01:44 within the Welsh Government. Born just outside Swansea, Jeremy Miles was raised a native
01:49 Welsh speaker in Pontyddylais, and graduated from a law degree at Oxford University. He
01:54 taught law at Warsaw University, and held roles as Senior Legal Advisor for various
01:59 TV networks. In politics, he was elected to his role as Senedd member for Neath in 2016,
02:06 and shortly after in 2017 became Counsel General, the Chief Legal Advisor to the First Minister,
02:11 becoming the first out gay Cabinet member in Senedd history. In 2018, he became the
02:15 Minister for European Transition, basically the equivalent of the Brexit Minister in the
02:19 UK Government. Then in 2018, he became the Minister for Education and Welsh Language,
02:24 a role he still has now. As Education Minister, he implemented a new curriculum in Wales with
02:29 an emphasis on promoting the Welsh language for learners. He's been named on the pink
02:34 list of the 40 most influential gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Wales a
02:38 number of times, and has been an outspoken advocate for the LGBT community. He, like
02:43 Vaughan Gething, has bags of experience, but maybe that slightly smaller political stature,
02:48 although he has support of 16 Senedd members to Gething's nine. The leadership bid is
02:53 just starting, and we'll be hearing a whole lot more from the candidates over the next
02:57 few months. So who will it be, Miles or Gething? The race is on. James Pete Watkins, reporting
03:02 from Wales.
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