Andy Burnham Attended Two Hospitality Dinners with Manchester City Chairman

Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham attended two hospitality dinners with Manchester City's chairman during his tenure leading the region, deleted public records have revealed.

The current Prime Minister dined with Khaldoon Al Mubarak during matches in 2017 and 2018. However, these specific details were not outlined in the official statement released by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority regarding his contact with the club's hierarchy.

Burnham has faced mounting pressure to clarify the nature of his past discussions with Manchester City officials after the Premier League champions were found guilty of systematic financial rule breaches—a ruling the club is currently appealing.

The Prime Minister, who served as mayor until June, sparked widespread debate last month after remarking that he would be "genuinely concerned" if the current owners decided to sell the club.

A disclosure log published by the local authority covering nearly a decade of Burnham's meetings lists an official discussion with Al Mubarak in October 2021 at the UK Government's Global Investment Summit. It also notes an informal meeting in the stands during Vincent Kompany's testimonial match in 2019, alongside several occasions where Burnham attended City home fixtures in his mayoral capacity.

However, the document omitted the fact that these visits included two formal hospitality dinners with the club's chairman.

A previous register of interests, seen by the BBC, details a "dinner with Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese and Manchester City Chairman" at an Everton match at the Etihad Stadium in August 2017, valued at £300. A second entry logs "dinner with chairman at City v Manchester United derby" in April 2018, valued at around £699. Burnham also declared two tickets to an Ed Sheeran concert worth £150 in May of that year.

These entries have since been removed from the local authority's official website, as first reported by The Sun. The administration explained that internal rules dictate only declarations from the current term be displayed, despite records from 2022 still remaining accessible online when the current mayoral term began in 2024.

Downing Street defended his attendance, emphasising that the dinners were standard, properly declared matchday hospitality rather than private business meetings with the City chief.

Nonetheless, political scrutiny continues to grow. Shadow Sports Minister Louie French stated that Burnham had promised full transparency to both the public and the House of Commons regarding his dealings with the club, branding his recent remarks an inappropriate intervention in football. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has also called for a complete disclosure of all contacts between the Prime Minister and Manchester City figures.

Earlier this month, former long-serving council leader Sir Richard Leese defended a decade-old agreement with the club's owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, connected to the UAE royal family, under which council land was leased below market value according to a University of Sheffield report.