Dear Millers — Last week, we published an investigation into Joseph Wheeler, a senior figure at the University of Greater Manchester who was accused of making racist remarks, threatening to sack people if they didn’t bend to his will and establishing an environment so toxic that he created a mini revolt among staff. His marketing company has been paid more than £8 million in the past six years and it seems that very lucrative contract is now over.
Mollie Simpson
This morning, a university spokesperson confirmed that Wheeler has left with immediate effect after the university reviewed a piece of “firsthand evidence”: an edited audio clip where Wheeler spoke on a company call about his fears of turning Bolton into “small Lagos” if the university recruited too many Nigerian students. It’s a very rapid U-turn from the university’s attempts to downplay our reporting last week.
“Following discussions between the named individual involved and the University Vice Chancellor, we can confirm that the senior manager referred to in the article has left the University with immediate effect,” a spokesperson told us, while still whinging that staff had come to The Mill to raise their grievances rather than complaining to Wheeler himself, who had also been put in charge of HR.
As we noted in our story, staff have been wondering why George Holmes, the university’s longserving vice chancellor, seemingly handed the keys of the university to Wheeler, a marketing man from Milton Keynes with no background in higher education. We’re hoping to publish a follow-up story about this strange saga later this week, so if you have any information, please get in touch with Mollie.
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Go back to where it all began
From today’s sponsor: Manchester is hailed for its pivotal role in the industrial revolution. But the digital revolution, which rolls on to this day, also owes a huge debt to this city. In 1948 “Baby”, the first computer to store and run a program from memory, was built here: the ancestor of today’s computers, smartphones and tablets. Alan Turing was one of its earliest programmers, helping inspire his 1950 article ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’, which famously asked: “Can machines think?” The journey to the astonishing capabilities of AI we see today began with this machine.
You can visit a full-scale replica of Baby and see it in action at the Science and Industry Museum. Find out more here.
⛅️ This week’s weather
Tuesday 🌧️ Overcast and breezy with patchy light rain. 6°C.
Wednesday 🌥️ Mostly dry with a few bright spells. Feeling chilly. 7°C.
Thursday ⛅️ Dry and breezy with intermittent bright spells. 7°C.
Friday 🌥️ Largely cloudy and breezy although dry in most places. 6°C.
Weekend 🌥️ Staying chilly with temperatures a little below the average for the middle of February.
We get our weekly forecast from Manchester Weather.
Your briefing
🏛️ Joseph Wheeler has been dismissed from the University of Greater Manchester “with immediate effect” after Mollie’s investigation found the outsider marketing adviser had managed to acquire massive influence at the university. The university told us that it took allegations of bullying and bigotry seriously but always maintained that our allegations were “unsubstantiated” and “increasingly extraordinary assertions, primarily it appears from hearsay”. But today, a university spokesperson said that “following discussions between the named individual involved and the University Vice Chancellor, we can confirm that the senior manager referred to in the article has left the University with immediate effect.”
The university says its decision is based on new information sent to it on Friday, following our reporting, information they did not have when we sent a detailed list of questions relating to Wheeler’s conduct. (This is untrue: The Mill sent this key piece of evidence to the university on Thursday 23 January.) The evidence in question is an edited audio clip where Wheeler appears to be speaking to a member of staff about and relaying vice-chancellor Holmes’ instructions about the university’s need for different kinds of overseas students, saying: “We don’t want to turn Bolton into small Lagos.”
We understand that the university has also been under increasing pressure from local MPs to suspend Wheeler. On Friday, Phil Brickell, MP for Bolton West, wrote a letter to the vice chancellor saying he was “gravely concerned about the serious allegations made against Mr Wheeler” and asked the university to provide a detailed response on the university’s position on the audio recordings, what action the university is taking and whether Wheeler would be suspended until the facts were substantiated. Kirith Entwistle, MP for Bolton North East, told us in a statement she was concerned about “the reputational damage this will cause to Bolton” and Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South and Walkden, released a statement encouraging the university “to ensure a thorough and transparent review of these issues”. The Mill understands that Brickell and Qureshi met with Holmes to discuss their concerns on Friday evening.
In its statement, the university’s spokesperson did not offer an apology for the distress it had caused to its staff and students, but said: “The University would like to remind colleagues that issues and evidence-based concerns should always be raised through the University’s proper internal procedures and they will be dealt with promptly and fairly. The appropriate action will be taken after a thorough investigation of the evidence.” The spokesperson added: “It is disappointing that matters which could and should have been resolved internally were referred to the media, creating a potential detrimental impact upon the university.”
Staff members inside the university have suggested that they went to the media because internal procedures are not followed by the university and previous attempts to complain about Wheeler’s conduct have come to nothing or resulted in staff members being sacked. Over the weekend, an anonymous university staff member emailed a number of Bolton councillors begging for action to be taken, saying: “There is no safe means of reporting any concerns through internal HR processes” and suggesting staff have “nowhere to turn for help”.
What happens next? A lot of people in the university’s senior leadership are “shaken”, according to one of our sources inside the university. We’ll be publishing a follow-up story on Thursday — if you’d like to pass us some information, get in touch with Mollie.
💸 Talking of people leaving their jobs after Mill reporting, it looks like mayor Andy Burnham still hasn’t given up defending Sacha Lord. Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester last week, Burnham offered a quixotic defence of his friend and former advisor, saying he thinks “it’s very unfair what’s happened to Sacha”. The mayor was referring to the recent Arts Council review into Lord’s company Primary Event Solutions, which concluded the company had filed a misleading application and should pay back the £401,928 grant it received. Even though Lord resigned from his position of night time economy advisor to Burnham afterwards, when we sent questions asking Burnham to further explain how Lord was treated unfairly (this thread covers the inconsistencies in his statement) he backtracked a touch. He said he accepted the outcome, but believed the length of time it took to conclude the review — considering previous reviews had found no misuse of money — was unfair. It’s worth repeating that the review launched in May was specifically about how the money was obtained, not used. Would the mayor offer a similar defence of people who submitted grossly misleading funding applications to the GMCA and received public money as a result? We’ll try to find out.
Quick hits
📲 The Mail on Sunday reports that Andrew Gwynne, MP for Gorton and Denton, has been dismissed as health minister and sacked from the Labour Party after making an anti-semitic remark in a WhatsApp group chat. Gwynne also called Dianne Abbott’s appearance as the first black woman at Prime Minister’s Questions “a joke” and suggested the following reply to a constituent who had complained about bin collection: “Dear resident, Fuck your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs.” Know more about this story? Get in touch with Jack.
📃 Andy Burnham is under pressure to follow through with his manifesto promise to ask the government for permissions and funds to trial a Universal Basic Income, after academics and campaigners from Northumbria University published their proposal for how the system could be rolled out.
☢️ The MEN reports TfGM spent £104.5m on the Clean Air Zone, with a further £2.6m forecast to be spent by March this year.
👮 Also in the MEN, a fascinating story about the young American drug runners who attempted to smuggle £8m worth of cocaine into Manchester Airport, who stood to make just between $4,000 and $5,000 from the operation.
🎭 Here You Come Again, a musical based on Dolly Parton, was subjected to homophobic abuse from audience members during its five night run at the Opera House in Manchester, resulting in people being ejected from the theatre.
Home of the week
This sweet stone cottage in Bolton has two bedrooms, wooden-beamed ceilings and a long garden stretching out towards open countryside. £230,000.
Our favourite reads
I excluded 11 pupils on day one as head – look at our school now — The Times
“I hate the term disadvantaged” says Simon Ward, head of Kingsway Park High School in Rochdale, which has a 1,300 strong student population described as one of the most diverse and disadvantaged in the country. “My kids aren’t disadvantaged, they’re just poor — and ultimately as a result of being poor, that means that they don’t have the same equality of opportunities as some other people.” Ward tells The Times about the work he has done to turn Kingsway Park High around in highly challenging circumstances; his winning formula includes getting kids access to activities they didn’t have before, like lacrosse, jiu-jitsu and windsurfing.
Does Labour have a plan for regional growth? — The Financial Times
In a speech last month Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised a raft of new investment to drive British growth. Unfortunately for us, most of it was earmarked for the south-east, and those familiar with the matter told the FT’s Jennifer Williams that announcements on regional transport proposals were dropped from Reeves’s speech. It begs the question: is the Labour government any more committed to investing in the North of England than the previous government, under the banner of levelling up, was?
When Michelin came to Manchester — The Mill
The Michelin “revelation” ceremony — where the UK’s best restaurants are given the guide’s coveted stars — is being hosted in Glasgow tonight. It was at the Midland this time last year, and we thought now is as good a time as any to look back at Jack’s visit. It included difficult conversations with old acquaintances (“he was too occupied calling me a c*nt, a liar, and being generally quite upset to see me”), tasting whiskey with tyre salesmen and plenty of caviar — but no stars for Manchester’s restaurants.
Our to do list
Tuesday
🪡 MCR Sew is a monthly meet-up for artists, makers, crafters, or anyone interested in textiles. It’s a great way to meet like-minded people and get tips or guidance on your own project. This month’s meet-up is at Ducie Street Warehouse. Starts 17:30, tickets are £4.
🍜 There’s 50% off ramen every Tuesday this month at Lücky, on Blossom Street. There are a few new bowls on the menu, including one with Japanese fried chicken sprinkled with parmesan and crispy shallots. Here’s the menu.
Wednesday
🎞️ Winner of the Golden Bear Award at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, DAHOMEY follows the 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey — plundered in 1892 — on their repatriation journey from Paris to Benin. It’s playing at Manchester Museum at 6pm, with an introductory talk from the museum’s curator of living cultures Njabulo Chipangura. Tickets here.
🎨 If you’re at a particularly loose end on Wednesday, there is a full day conference on surrealism at the New Adelphi, in Salford. The conference marks the 100-year anniversary of the publication of André Breton’s surrealist manifesto. More info here.
Thursday
✏️ There’s a life drawing class at Gallery Oldham for anyone looking to explore their creativity, work on their drawing skills and meet fellow art enthusiasts. Starts 6pm, tickets here.
⚽ Keen City fans can book onto a site visit to get an insight into the ongoing development of the Etihad. You’ll be donning a hard hat and getting in and amongst the £300m refurbishment, which will include a sky bar and stadium roof walk experience (when completed). Tickets here.
Thanks to today’s sponsor, the Science and Industry Museum. To find out more about their collections, and plan your visit, click here.
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