Burnham’s Dinners With Man City Chairman Left Out of Statement
Deleted records show Andy Burnham dined with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at matches in 2017 and 2018 while mayor, hospitality valued at £300 and about £699. Neither was specified in Monday’s official account of his dealings with the club. Asked at PMQs whether the Premier League charges were raised with him, he said: “They did not raise those issues with me.”
The dinners were declared at the time; the issue is the gap between a promise of “everything” and a statement Mr Burnham himself called his “key dealings”. The register containing them has since been removed from the combined authority’s website, which says it publishes only the current term’s entries — though its site still carries entries from 2022. His press secretary referred questions back to that statement. The shadow sports minister Louie French says the prime minister “cannot hide behind the GMCA”; Reform’s Robert Jenrick says “this saga stinks”. It matters because Mr Burnham said last month he would be “really concerned” if City’s owners sold up after the club was found guilty of breaking league rules.