Burnham’s Manchester City dinners draw scrutiny as club appeals financial ruling

Two previously declared hospitality dinners between Andy Burnham and Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak were not specifically identified in a new account of his dealings with the club, BBC News has reported. The disclosure has brought further scrutiny of the prime minister's contacts with City while he was mayor of Greater Manchester, as the club challenges a ruling over Premier League financial breaches.

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According to the BBC, an earlier Greater Manchester Combined Authority register recorded hospitality worth £300 for a dinner at City's home match against Everton in August 2017. The entry named then-council leader Richard Leese and the City chairman. A second entry listed dinner with the chairman at the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium in April 2018, with hospitality valued at approximately £699.

Both occasions had been declared by Burnham. The register containing them is no longer on the authority's website, something first reported by The Sun. The BBC said it understood the authority's policy was to publish entries only for the current mayoral term, but had sought clarification because entries from 2022 remained online despite that term beginning in 2024.

The authority's statement on Monday identified a formal meeting with Al Mubarak at the government's Global Investment Summit in October 2021 and an informal encounter at Vincent Kompany's testimonial in 2019. It also acknowledged that Burnham had attended a small number of City home games as a guest. Downing Street said the dinners were declared matchday hospitality rather than separate meetings with the chairman; the BBC asked the authority why they were not individually specified.

At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Burnham was asked whether anyone from City had raised the charges with him or his team. He said those issues had not been raised with him. He also told MPs he was willing for his dealings to be set out fully, while referring to Monday's release as an account of his key contacts with the owners.

The scrutiny follows an independent commission's finding in September that City breached Premier League financial rules over the period from 2009 to 2018. According to the BBC, the commission found that commercial arrangements had been used to channel more than £830 million into the club's football operations. City denies wrongdoing and has lodged an appeal. Sanctions have not yet been announced.