‘Taxpayers will want to know why a £700 piece of office furniture ended up as a leaving gift for Andy Burnham’
Andy Burnham made the switch from Mayor to MP to PM – and left office with a unique present (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
Andy Burnham’s “leaving present” when he quit as Mayor of Greater Manchester was a chair that had been purchased for £700. The now-Prime Minister did not hide his excitement when presented with the chair which features images of the city and the words: “This is Manchester. We do things differently here.”
Mr Burnham took to social media, telling his former colleagues at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA): “I have loved working with you and will miss you so much. You couldn’t have given me a better leaving present!”
The chair can be seen in a TikTok video in which Mr Burnham gives a tour of his Number 10 North office, where it sits beneath a gold disc for the The Smiths album The Queen is Dead.
The GMCA disclosed the cost of the chair after a Freedom of Information request, stating: “The chair was a piece of GMCA office furniture that had been purchased previously and was already in use within the offices of GMCA. The cost of the chair when originally purchased was £700.”
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood was not impressed at the costly gift.
He said: “Labour MPs were fighting over who could give their seat up to the new Prime Minister, little did they know he was going to get one at the taxpayers’ expense. The so-called King of the North may have his throne, but for hard-working families nothing will cushion the blow of Labour’s impending tax rises. It’s time Burnham sat up and started focusing on the real issues facing the country.”
Shimeon Lee of the TaxPayers’ Alliance was also concerned, saying: “Taxpayers will want to know why a £700 piece of office furniture ended up as a leaving gift for Andy Burnham. GMCA should explain how the decision was made and why handing over the chair represented better value than any other gift.”
A Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) spokesperson said: “This was a chair already purchased and in use at the GMCA offices, having been refurbished by skilled local upholsters at our Renew Hub. Money raised through the sale of these upcycled items goes back into supporting local charities and community groups in Greater Manchester.”