U.K. has its first Black government leader as Vaughan Gething is elected first minister of Wales

Vaughan Gething won the Welsh Labor Party leadership contest and is set to become the first Black leader of Wales’ semiautonomous government. Vaughan Gething was elected first minister of Wales on Wednesday, becoming the first Black leader of a government in the U.K. Gething was elected government leader by members of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff, four days after winning the contest to be leader of Wales’ governing Labor Party. Gething, the son of a Welsh father and a Zambian mother, said Wales is now “the first nation anywhere in Europe to be led by a Black person.” “It is a matter of pride for a modern Wales but also a daunting responsibility for me — and one that I do not take lightly,” he told lawmakers. Northern Ireland is led jointly by Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly, meaning that for the first time there are no white male heads of government in the U.K. Wales, which has a population of about 3 million, is one of four parts of the United Kingdom, along with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.