Andy Burnham had two hospitality dinners with Manchester City football club's chairman while mayor of Greater Manchester, it has emerged. The PM dined with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at matches in 2017 and 2018 - but this was not detailed in a statement on Monday by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) about his meetings with the club. Burnham has been under pressure to clarify his previous discussions with Man City since the club was found guilty of having "systematically" broken Premier League rules, which it will appeal.
The PM, who was mayor until June, sparked widespread controversy when he said last month he would be "really concerned" if the club's owners now sold up. On Monday, the GMCA released a statement about Burnham's meetings with Man City in his role as mayor for the region for almost a decade. The statement said he had a formal meeting with Al Mubarak in October 2021 at the UK Government's Global Investment Summit, arranged by the Department for International Trade; and that he met the club chairman "informally in the stands" at a testimonial match in 2019 for former player Vincent Kompany.
It also said that "in his capacity as mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City at home matches on a small number of occasions". But the statement did not specify that this referred to, external two hospitality dinners he had had with the Manchester City chairman at separate matches. A previous GMCA register of declarations for Burnham, seen by the BBC, detailed a "dinner with [then-Manchester City Council leader] Richard Leese and Chair of Man City" for an Everton match at the Etihad stadium in August 2017, valued at £300 for hospitality.
Below is another entry for "dinner with the Chairman at the Man City/Man Utd derby at the Etihad" in April 2018, valued at approximately £699. Burnham previously declared those dinners, alongside a £150 pair of tickets to see Ed Sheeran perform at the stadium in May 2018. But the register of declarations has since been deleted from the GMCA website, as first reported by The Sun, but the BBC understands it is the authority's policy to only publish entries from the current mayoral term.
Man City guilty of 'sham' contracts and misleading accounts BBC News has asked GMCA for more details about this policy - given its website has entries dating back to 2022, despite the current mayoral term beginning in 2024. Downing Street has defended the two dinners with Man City's chairman, saying this was hospitality received at home games, which had been declared, rather than separate meetings with the club chairman. But political pressure on Burnham to be clearer about any former discussions with Man City is continuing to mount.
Tory shadow sports minister Louie French said: "Andy Burnham promised the country and House of Commons full transparency on his dealings with Manchester City. "This was essential after his inappropriate intervention into football." Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has demanded that No 10 release all details of meetings between the prime minister and senior figures at the club. Burnham told the Rest Is Politics podcast last week: "I've been asked by the leader of the opposition to publish details of my meetings, which I'm happy to do and I'm going to.
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