The picture that raises awkward questions for Burnham over Man City links

Unlike the fog-hazed backdrop of China’s Silicon Valley, the Premier League trophy next to Andy Burnham glistens. It is adorned with Manchester City’s famed sky blue ribbons and sits on a podium listing the dates of their league title crowns. The latest of those, the 2017/18 title, had been won months before in a record-breaking season. Like the other Premier League titles, it was secured on the back of millions of pounds investment by the club’s Adu Dhabi owners. Shorts But now the emergence of Burnham’s meeting with City club officials in 2018, where he helped advocate for their expansion in China while Manchester mayor, has heightened scrutiny on the Prime Minister over his links to the Emiratis. A key part of Burnham’s previous job to build relationships with major investors in his region. But opposition parties are demanding he “come clean” about the extent of his relationship with the club’s owners, who have injected hundreds of millions of pounds to regenerate Manchester including during Burnham’s mayorship. The Prime Minister is facing calls to publish details of any hospitality and all his meetings with City owners and representatives of the UAE government, which is reportedly threatening to pull UK investment over the cheating verdict. Questions over 2018 China trip Burnham, while mayor of Manchester in 2018, was visiting China to improve economic ties, with a delegation of political and business leaders. For one day of the September trip, he joined City Football Group – City’s owners – for a photoshoot to launch their new “hub” in Shenzhen, the Chinese city home to global tech giants including Huawei. Burnham, standing next to Manchester City’s then Senior Vice President of Partnerships Damian Willoughby, is smiling. In a press release published on the club’s website about the visit, Burnham issued a perfectly tailored PR statement, saying: “The ambition of City Football Group matches that of the football authorities in China – it’s a perfect partnership.” But eight years on, Burnham’s close links to City’s owners are firmly under the microscope. As City fight to keep hold of their Premier League titles after being found guilty of breaching more than 100 financial rules from 2009 to 2018, Burnham is now fighting to kick away accusations of political meddling. Manchester City Emirati chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak talks with Burnham at the Vincent Kompany testimonial football match in 2019 (Photo: Paul Ellis/AFP) The Prime Minister was forced to backtrack after saying last week he would be “concerned” if the club’s Abu Dhabi investor owners quit after the independent commission’s guilty verdict. Burnham later clarified that “no one is above the rules”. On Thursday, the PM was challenged over his comments again, telling the BBC he denied he had “downplayed the seriousness of the findings”. Burnham told to release diaries Number 10 declined to comment on the China meeting. But it is understood Burnham’s position is that during his time as Mayor of Greater Manchester, it was “routine” for sporting clubs in the region to join business delegations on mayoral visits abroad. This included Manchester United staff joining him on a trip to Texas and Lancashire Cricket Club staff joining trip to India. However Nathan Evans, leader of Trafford Conservatives and a member of the scrutiny committee at Greater Manchester Combined Authority, told The i Paper: “What was [Burnham’s] level of involvement with City? Nobody really knows, that’s the issue. “We are calling for Burnham to release his diaries from his time as mayor so we can look at his meetings with Man City. The connections clearly go a long way back.” The Telegraph reported on Thursday that while Manchester mayor, Burnham oversaw a £55m taxpayer loan to companies ultimately controlled by Sheik Mansour, the owner of Manchester City. Decisions to award the loans were taken in meetings in 2017, which Burnham chaired as mayor of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the Telegraph reported. The cash was from a pot lent to the region by central government to “kickstart housing projects that would otherwise be difficult to fund from elsewhere”, according to a press release at the time. A spokesperson for Manchester Life, the joint venture between Manchester city council and city owners, said 453 homes were built and the loans were repaid in full. ‘This is our national game’ Premier League clubs also now appear to be spooked about political interference in Man City’s appeal to overturn their guilty verdict. “I think everyone is concerned,” one senior club source told the BBC. “Because no-one is stupid around the table. We understand the geopolitics as well. “We understand the investment they have made in our country. I don’t think anyone could doubt that or criticise that. But this is different, this is sport, this is our national game.” Anna Sabine, the Lib Dems spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport who has called for Burnham to publish details of his meetings, said: “Football fans up and down the country deserve to know that the rules apply to everyone, however rich and powerful they are.” Former City and FA chair David Bernstein is ‘concerned’ about Burnham’s comments (Photo: Getty) David Bernstein, the former chair of City and the FA, said he was “concerned” about how Burnham has handled the issue, which he described as “something that politicians should be seen to be staying well away from”. He told BBC Newsnight: “It is absolutely vital that this independent regulator can perform independently and without political interference and I think there are issues coming out of all this in terms of the board of directors, possibly the owners as well, where the independent regulator will need to get involved.” ‘The whole question of ownership on the table’ He also told the FT: “The whole question of ownership and the way the game’s developed over the last 20 years or so is on the table.” City maintain they are innocent and have appealed the guilty verdict. Depending on the outcome, an independent commission will decide City’s punishment. This could range from a large points deduction or even removal from the Premier League, while the new football regulator could also strip the Abu Dhabi United Group of its ownership. Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, Burnham denied he had “downplayed the seriousness of the findings”. “They are findings that need to be considered with great care and seriousness and then the process that considers them needs to be fully independent,” he said. “I said that last week and I will repeat it again. I think it’s incumbent on everybody now to let the process run its course.” “I was asked a question about wider investment. I think it’s important to separate the football issues from wider investment. The football issues have to be looked at fully and that is without question.”