Andy Burnham has pledged to release full records of his interactions with Manchester City during his time as mayor, following questions raised about his public backing of the club's ownership. Kemi Badenoch, who leads the Opposition, put pressure on him to release the full body of documentation connected to his tenure as Greater Manchester's mayor.
A Premier League disciplinary panel determined that City had violated the league's financial rules across a period stretching from 2009 through to 2018. The club has lodged an appeal and denies any wrongdoing in connection with the ruling handed down against it.
Burnham had indicated the previous month that a sale of Manchester City by its Abu Dhabi ownership group would give him cause for concern, describing those owners as having played a central role in shaping the club into what it is today. Downing Street subsequently clarified the Prime Minister's position, noting that he viewed the ruling as a matter to be taken seriously and that those found to have acted wrongly ought to face appropriate consequences.
In an interview set for release on Monday via the Rest is Politics podcast, Burnham indicated he would lay out the full record of his engagement with the club's owners during his time as mayor. He drew a distinction between football-related matters and investment-related matters, while noting that some were treating the two as interchangeable.
Badenoch's request prompted a commitment to release the meeting records, with the relevant details to be made available accordingly. Burnham pledged to set out, in full, the record of his work alongside them during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester. The meetings in question all took place some time ago, with one noteworthy encounter occurring in 2021.
Burnham confirmed the account and indicated a full disclosure would follow. He stated that football-related matters require attention through an autonomous review process that he said should be allowed to conclude without interference.
The independent commission convened by the Premier League determined that City had structured commercial arrangements with a number of sponsors across the relevant period as part of a concealed funding mechanism, under which those sponsor companies were contractually obligated to contribute only a fraction of the full fees attached to each agreement. Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, in which Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a controlling stake, was identified by the commission as the source of the outstanding portion of the funding.
A separate voice in the matter urged that investment questions of this kind be treated as a distinct matter from football-related proceedings. French, the shadow sports minister, put forward a request that Burnham disclose any meetings held since taking office as Prime Minister, while also directing Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy to address outstanding questions on the matter.
French called on the Prime Minister to release details of every contact between ministers, officials, and Manchester City dating from the start of the current administration, to account for what French characterised as an improper intervention in the matter, and to ensure that Lisa Nandy provides complete responses to the questions already put to her.
