Deleted register shows Andy Burnham dined twice with Man City chairman as mayor
Deleted declarations reveal two hospitality dinners with Khaldoon Al Mubarak
Prime Minister Andy Burnham had two hospitality dinners with Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak while mayor of Greater Manchester, according to deleted declarations that have emerged amid renewed scrutiny of his links to the club.
The BBC reports that a previous GMCA register of declarations for Burnham 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. A second entry records "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. The register has since been removed from the GMCA website, as first reported by The Sun, although the BBC understands it is the authority's policy to only publish entries from the current mayoral term.
GMCA statement omitted the dinners
On Monday the Greater Manchester Combined Authority released a statement about Burnham's meetings with Manchester City during his almost decade-long tenure as mayor.
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".
The statement did not specify that this referred to the two hospitality dinners with the chairman.
Pressure mounts after Premier League verdict
Burnham has been under pressure to clarify previous discussions with Manchester City since the club was found guilty by an independent commission of having "systematically" broken Premier League rules, which it will appeal. The commission found City broke rules over a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018 by creating "sham" contracts with commercial partners to secretly funnel more than £830m into their football operations. Sanctions are yet to be announced and City denies wrongdoing.
The prime minister, who was mayor until June, sparked controversy last month when he said he would be "really concerned" if the club's owners now sold up. Downing Street has defended the two dinners, saying this was hospitality received at home games which had been declared, rather than separate meetings with the club chairman.
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 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. I will quite clearly put out there everything that I have done working with them in my previous role as Mayor of Greater Manchester. None of it is recent, actually, in terms of the meetings I had. I only had one significant meeting, actually, and that was in 2021."
The list of meetings published by the GMCA on Monday did not include detail on what was discussed. The BBC has asked GMCA why the two dinners were not specifically mentioned.