The election of Vaughan Gething as Welsh Labour leader and First Minister-in-waiting represents a dangerous moment for devolution and a dangerous time for Wales.

In condoning a victory bought with tainted donations, our leading political party has brought shame upon itself as well as on Welsh democracy – a concept that now has a hollow ring.

After a series of brazenly engineered stitch-ups that have been well documented, there was a depressing inevitability about the outcome. Although the refusal of the Labour Party to release the breakdown of how party members and affiliates voted, all the indications are that the key ingredient to Mr Gething’s success was his superior access to union affiliated voters.

It seems that he was able to overhaul Mr Miles’ likely superior showing among party members by profiting from the unfair advantage he gained thanks to the nominations he received from the “Big Six” trade unions.