A leading member of Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign has endorsed baseless allegations that Nation.Cymru is running a racist campaign against Mr Gething, orchestrated by the rival team backing Jeremy Miles.

On at least 10 occasions, baseless, vile and defamatory social media posts made by a conspiracy theorist, who hides behind a pseudonym, have been liked by Cath Sherrington, a former unsuccessful candidate for the then National Assembly who is married to Mr Gething’s agent David Costa, the former deputy general secretary of Welsh Labour.

The smear coincides with the revelation that Mr Gething has lobbied a government agency on behalf of the business interests of the convicted criminal whose company donated £200k to his leadership campaign.