Ex-minister not source of Gething story, website says

Hannah Blythyn was not the source of its story, Nation.Cymru said

Hannah Blythyn was not the source of the story which triggered her sacking from government, the news website which broke the story has said.

Nation.Cymru has denied that the Labour Senedd politician for Delyn was behind a story which revealed the first minister had said he was deleting messages from a chat group full of ministers in August 2020.

Vaughan Gething told the Senedd on Wednesday that evidence showed the message had clearly come from her phone.

Nation.Cymru’s chief executive Mark Mansfield said that at “no stage before or since publication of it have we had any contact with her” about the matter.

In response, the Welsh government said the "unredacted version" of a screenshot sent to the administration "by a journalist identified the owner of the phone" it originated from.

Welsh Conservatives said it was “almost impossible to believe the first minister’s version of events”.

Plaid Cymru accused Mr Gething of leading a "rudderless government, paralysed by controversy".

Welsh Economy Minister Jeremy Miles told the BBC that the government will have to look at the "new information" that came to light on Thursday.

On Wednesday Vaughan Gething told the Senedd that the government had received a "photograph of a fragment of an iMessage chat from a journalist" in May.

"Having cross-checked the photograph with a full set of messages, it became clear that the photograph could only have been from one member's phone," he said.

BBC Wales has been told by numerous sources that Ms Blythyn’s phone was identified because her details were absent from the list of participants listed on the photograph.

Mr Gething was responding to a personal statement from Ms Blythyn from the day before, where she denied ever leaking to the media.

She laid out a series of accusations against Mr Gething, including that she was not shown any evidence before she was sacked, was not told she was being investigated, and that the situation left her with acute anxiety and stress.

During Mr Gething's statement Ms Blythyn could be seen shaking her head.

A redacted version of the messages was released at the time of Ms Blythyn's sacking

Economy minister and former leadership rival to Mr Gething, Jeremy Miles, told the BBC that the Labour group and government was united.

"The first minister has made a statement in the Senedd yesterday. New information has come to light today so the government will have to look at that new information," he said.

He said he had not seen the evidence cited by the first minister – and would not expect to.

On the Nation.Cymru website, Mark Mansfield said: “Given the strong public interest and importance of this story and out of concern for Hannah Blythyn’s wellbeing, we have decided that the right thing to do is to state publicly that she was not the source of our story and that at no stage before or since publication of it have we had any contact with her about it."

Defending the first minister, a source close to Mr Gething said the first minister had "said the image came from her phone, which is different to her being Nation.Cymru's source".

The Welsh Conservatives have tabled a motion for debate in the Senedd on Wednesday, calling for the Welsh government to publish all evidence he relied upon in sacking Ms Blythyn, with redactions to ensure anonymity of witnesses.

The party said if it passed it "may" force Mr Gething to release any evidence.

Plaid Cymru also called for the evidence to be published.

“At the heart of this story is a rudderless government, paralysed by controversy and unable to deliver for the people of Wales," a Plaid spokesperson said.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "The unredacted version of the screenshot sent to the Welsh government by a journalist identified the owner of the phone the screenshot originated from.

“The first minister has made it repeatedly clear that he was not prepared to release this unredacted version unless all individuals identifiable through the exchanges agree to its release.”

A government source emphasised that the redacted version was already in the public domain.