On Monday, the GMCA issued a statement outlining Burnham’s contact with Manchester City during his nearly ten years as mayor of the region.
According to the statement, he held an official meeting with Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit in October 2021, organized by the Department for International Trade. It also said he encountered the club chairman informally in the stands during Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in 2019.
The authority added that Burnham had attended a limited number of Manchester City home fixtures as the club’s guest in his official capacity as mayor.
However, the statement did not make clear that this included, external two hospitality dinners with the Manchester City chairman at different matches.
An earlier GMCA declarations register recorded a dinner involving Burnham, then-Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese, and the club chairman during a match against Everton at the Etihad Stadium in August 2017. The hospitality was valued at £300.
A separate entry listed a dinner with the chairman at the Manchester derby at the Etihad in April 2018, with an estimated value of £699.
Burnham had previously disclosed both dinners, as well as two tickets worth £150 to an Ed Sheeran concert at the stadium in May 2018.
The declarations register was later removed from the GMCA website, a development initially reported by The Sun. The authority’s policy is understood to limit published entries to the current mayoral term.
GMCA has been asked to clarify that policy because its website contains records dating from 2022, even though the present mayoral term started in 2024.
Downing Street defended the two dinners, arguing that they were declared hospitality provided at home fixtures rather than standalone meetings with the Manchester City chairman.
Nevertheless, Burnham is facing growing political demands to provide further information about his previous discussions with the club.
Conservative shadow sports minister Louie French said Burnham had pledged complete transparency to both the public and the House of Commons regarding his dealings with Manchester City.
French argued that such openness was necessary following what he described as Burnham’s improper involvement in football matters.
Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick also criticized the situation, alleging that Burnham appeared to have hidden the full extent of his connections with Manchester City’s owners.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has repeatedly called on No 10 to disclose complete information about meetings between the prime minister and senior club representatives.
Speaking on the Rest Is Politics podcast last week, Burnham said he was willing to release a clear account of all his work with the club during his previous role as Greater Manchester mayor.
He added that none of the relevant contact was recent and said his only substantial meeting took place in 2021.
When asked at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday whether anyone from the club had discussed the charges with him or his team, Burnham said the matter had not been raised.
As pressure over the issue continued, the prime minister told MPs that he supported publishing the information in full. He described the GMCA document as a comprehensive account of his principal interactions with Manchester City’s owners.
Asked why the document omitted the two dinners and how a complete disclosure differed from a record of only the principal interactions, the prime minister’s press secretary directed reporters back to the GMCA statement.
The list released by GMCA on Monday did not explain what was discussed during the meetings. The authority has also been asked why the two dinners were not individually identified.
In September, Manchester City, one of the dominant teams in English football’s top division in recent years, was found by an independent commission to have violated Premier League financial rules.
The commission concluded that the club breached regulations over nine years, from 2009 to 2018, by using artificial agreements with commercial partners to channel more than £830m into its football activities without proper disclosure.
No penalties have yet been confirmed. Manchester City denies wrongdoing and has appealed the decision.
Earlier this month, Sir Richard Leese, who led Manchester City Council for 25 years before stepping down in 2021, defended an agreement made about a decade ago between the council and the club’s owner, Abu Dhabi United Group.
A University of Sheffield report said the arrangement between the authority and the company, which has ties to the United Arab Emirates royal family, allowed land to be leased to Abu Dhabi United Group at rates lower than comparable market terms.
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