Prime Minister Andy Burnham has instructed the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to conduct an exhaustive examination of all records documenting his interactions with Manchester City football club during his tenure as mayor. The move follows mounting scrutiny over his relationship with the club's leadership and comes as the organisation faces questions about deleted hospitality records.
Speaking to media outlets on Thursday, Burnham stated he had requested a thorough investigation to guarantee complete openness.
"I've asked them to do a more manual trawl of everything, as I want everything possible to be out there,"he said of the GMCA's efforts.
The controversy centres on Burnham's decade-long tenure as mayor of Greater Manchester, which concluded in June, during which he maintained contact with Manchester City's leadership. The club has since been determined to have systematically violated Premier League regulations.
What triggered the transparency concerns?
Initial disclosures of Burnham's interactions with Manchester City were made public on Monday, but the situation deteriorated when it became apparent that documentation of two separate dinners between Burnham and club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak had been removed from official records.
Burnham maintained that these two dining occasions at the Etihad Stadium in 2017 and 2018 were encompassed within the statement released by the local authority on Monday. However, the GMCA's original statement made no specific reference to these dinners, instead mentioning only an informal encounter with Al Mubarak in the stadium stands during a 2019 match and a formal meeting at the UK Government's Global Investment Summit in October 2021.
When serving as mayor, Burnham had formally registered the two dinners provided by Manchester City, with the hospitality valued at a combined £1,000. The GMCA subsequently removed these entries from its website, citing its standard practice of retaining only records from the sitting mayor's current term—though the authority has not explained why the register extends back to 2022 when the current mayoral term commenced in 2024.
Burnham has faced accusations from political opponents of attempting to conceal these meetings. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch raised the matter during Prime Minister's Questions this week, asserting that the issue would not disappear.
"The issue is not going away,"she told him.
What do we know about the meetings?
The nature and substance of discussions during the two dinners remain undisclosed. According to reporting from 14 October, Burnham stated that Manchester City's ownership and board members did not broach the subject of the Premier League charges during their meetings with him.
Burnham characterised the 2021 gathering as his sole "significant meeting" with City representatives. The GMCA clarified that this encounter was organised by the Department for International Trade as part of the UK Government's Global Investment Summit.
However, further reporting published on 15 October identified two additional encounters: Burnham met Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano at Co-op Live in 2023 and former chief operating officer Roel de Vries at the same venue in 2025.
What are the underlying Premier League violations?
Manchester City stands accused of breaching Premier League regulations systematically over a nine-year span ending in 2018. An independent commission determined that the club employed fraudulent commercial agreements with business partners to channel more than £830 million into football operations without proper disclosure. The club has consistently rejected these findings and submitted a formal appeal against the determination.
Burnham's recent comments have intensified scrutiny of his connections to the club. In a BBC interview conducted in September, he expressed concern about the prospect of Manchester City's current owners divesting from the organisation, a remark that drew criticism given the severity of the rule-breaking findings.
What happens next?
The GMCA has been asked to clarify whether it has received Burnham's request for a comprehensive manual examination of records and to detail what such an undertaking would encompass. The authority has not yet provided specifics on the scope or timeline of this review.
The situation remains politically contentious, with questions persisting about the full extent of Burnham's interactions with Manchester City leadership and whether any matters of significance were discussed during their encounters.
Key Facts
- Burnham has requested a thorough manual review of all GMCA records relating to his contact with Manchester City during his nine-year tenure as mayor
- Records of two dinners with club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in 2017 and 2018 were deleted from the GMCA website, though Burnham says they were included in Monday's disclosure statement
- An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of systematically breaching Premier League rules over nine years by using sham contracts to funnel more than £830 million into football operations; the club denies wrongdoing and has appealed
- Additional meetings have since emerged, including encounters with Manchester City's chief executive in 2023 and a former chief operating officer in 2025
