Andy Burnham has said he has asked for a "manual trawl" of records relating to his previous contact with Manchester City football club. The prime minister said on Thursday he had asked the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to search "everything" to ensure "full transparency". He continues to face questions over any relations he had with Man City while mayor of Greater Manchester for almost a decade until June.
The club has been found guilty of "systematically" breaking Premier League rules. Declarations of Burnham's contact with the club were released on Monday, but confusion grew later when it emerged records of two dinners Burnham had with Man City's chairman had been deleted. Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday, Burnham said of the GMCA: "I've asked them to do a more manual trawl of everything, as I want everything possible to be out there." He insisted that the occasions he dined with Man City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak at matches at the Etihad in 2017 and 2018 were "included" in a statement issued by the local authority on Monday.
It comes after he was accused by his political opponents of seeking to cover up the meetings. The GMCA statement, external mentioned a meeting Burnham had "informally" with Al Mubarak in the stands at a 2019 match, and a formal meeting the pair held at the UK Government's Global Investment Summit in October 2021, but did not specify the two dinners. It went on: "In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions [...]." As mayor, Burnham previously declared the dinners from Man City, valued at a combined total of £1,000 for hospitality.
But records of them have since been deleted from the GMCA website. The BBC understands it is the authority's policy to only publish entries from the current mayoral term - but the authority has not clarified why the register dates back to 2022, despite the current mayoral term beginning in 2024. It also remains unclear what, if anything of significance, was discussed at the two dinners.
The BBC has asked the GMCA if it has received a request for a "manual trawl" and what this will entail. Burnham has faced pressure since comments in a BBC interview in September, saying he would be "really concerned" if Man City's owners now sold the club, following an independent commission finding the club guilty of multiple Premier League financial rule breaches. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told him at Prime Minister's Questions this week that the issue was not "going away".
The commission found City had broken rules over a nine-year period to 2018 by creating "sham" contracts with commercial partners to secretly funnel more than £830m into football operations. The findings have outraged many and left the top flight of English football in limbo with its top team facing potential sanctions. Man City continues to deny any wrongdoing and has lodged an appeal.
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