Burnham’s declared City dinners not itemised in GMCA statement

An earlier Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) register listed two dinners involving Andy Burnham and Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, according to the BBC. Both had previously been declared. A statement issued by the authority on Monday acknowledged Burnham’s visits to City home games but did not itemise the dinners.

The BBC says the register recorded a dinner with Al Mubarak and then Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese at a match against Everton in August 2017, with hospitality valued at £300. A second entry described a dinner with the chairman at the Manchester derby in April 2018, valued at approximately £699.

The GMCA statement said Burnham had been a guest at a small number of City home matches and that the visits had been declared in the usual way. It also described a formal meeting with Al Mubarak in 2021 and an informal encounter at Vincent Kompany’s testimonial in 2019. The BBC says the earlier register identified the two dinners individually, while the later statement described match visits more generally.

Downing Street said the dinners were declared match-day hospitality, rather than separate meetings with the chairman. Burnham told MPs on 12 October that his dealings relating to meetings with City’s owners would be published that afternoon. In comments reported by ITV on 14 October, he described the GMCA publication as a full statement of his key dealings and said it included the matters then in the news.