Vaughan Gething, the first minister of Wales, announced his resignation on Tuesday after less than four months in the region’s top job, amid a controversy over campaign donations that prompted a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
Mr. Gething, a Labour Party politician who became the first Black person to lead a national government in Europe when he became the head of the Welsh Parliament, known as the Senedd, in March, denied any wrongdoing as he announced in a written statement that he was stepping down.
“A growing assertion that some kind of wrongdoing has taken place has been pernicious, politically motivated and patently untrue,” Mr. Gething wrote, adding that in his 11 years as a lawmaker, he had “never ever made a decision for personal gain.”
Wales, like Scotland and Northern Ireland, is part of the United Kingdom but also has its own devolved government, which makes local laws and enacts national legislation and policies. Mr. Gething became the first minister after the resignation of a long-serving predecessor, Mark Drakeford, winning a tight leadership election within the governing Labour Party.
But last month, he lost a confidence vote in the Welsh Parliament over donations made to his leadership campaign by a company owned by a man who had been convicted of environmental offenses.
Mr. Gething chose to remain in his role, but on Tuesday morning, four members of his government announced their resignations, expressing their lack of confidence in the first minister and precipitating his decision.
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