About Tony Gething
A Lifetime of Public Service Rooted in Civic Action
Everyone’s life is like a journey with highs and lows, challenging circumstances and filled with heartfelt moments. Explore here a story of Tony Gething, who stood strong throughout the highs and lows of life and who kept his vision clear without diverting from people’s expectations or traditional politics. He was born and grew up in Wolverhampton, a city in the middle of England known for factories and hard work. Tony’s family strongly supported the Labour Party, and many of them were leaders in trade unions, active in the protection of workers’ rights. Some were even local political leaders.
But in 1974, something changed.
At just fifteen years old, Gething made a decision that would shape the rest of his life. Without telling a soul, he walked three miles from his home to his local Conservative Party office and volunteered to help in that year’s general election campaign. That simple act, done without fanfare or guidance, was the start of a journey that would take him from doorsteps in the West Midlands to the political corridors of power in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.
A Grassroots Conservative With Global Insight
For the next two decades, Gething dedicated himself to Conservative activism in Wolverhampton. He wasn’t part of the elite; he wasn’t a parliamentary aide or a special adviser. He was an organiser, a campaigner, and eventually a leader, serving as Chairman of the Wolverhampton West Conservative Association. It was a constituency with a rich political history, once represented by firebrand MP Enoch Powell and later Nick Budgen.
During those years, he learnt to really respect the everyday people who help politics happen, such as volunteers, local leaders, and voters. These people are usually not noticed in big national talks. He believed then, and still believes now, that a political party should not just be a brand or a machine. There should be a real connection between helping the public and earning their trust.
This belief would carry him far, well beyond Wolverhampton.
Advisor to Governments Across the World
In the years that followed, Tony Gething established himself as one of the UK’s foremost experts in government reform and delivery, trusted by leaders across more than 20 countries during pivotal moments of transition. From Ankara and Bucharest to Pristina and Amman, he worked alongside emerging and fragile governments to build institutions that could genuinely serve their people.
Gething developed a reputation as the person you called when results mattered. He was known for cutting through empty rhetoric and bloated strategies that too often gathered dust on forgotten shelves. Instead, he focused relentlessly on delivering practical, measurable outcomes that improved lives on the ground.
One of his most consequential roles came in the Balkans, where he led a mission that helped lay the institutional foundations for the Republic of Kosovo, Europe’s newest independent state.