Manchester has a new leader, who is he?

Dear readers — Last night, the battle for who will take over from Bev Craig as leader of Manchester City Council came to a close; with Garry Bridges beating Tom Robinson for the title by a single vote. To this, investors, developers, Mill readers and general members of the public all across Manchester responded with a resounding: “who?”

Jack Dulhanty of course spent the whole of yesterday evening dialling up his phonebook trying to get the inside story. Councillor for Harpurhey and Christmas Pat Karney told the MEN that the leadership contest was “friendly and orderly,” and assured them that “town-hall drama” was minimised. As Jack found out, this wasn’t exactly true.

But first, in case you missed it, we’d like to urgently draw your attention back to Saturday’s article, which asks the question: ever seen those fundraisers in the blue jackets and wondered — is this a scam?

Well over the weekend, Lucy, Ophira and Alec put their heads together to write one of our most popular stories of the year: the story of two cigar-smoking, rolex-wearing, quick-tempered salesmen behind the Educate & Empower ‘fundraising’ scheme. We went to visit them in their Snow White themed offices. What happened next was very weird.

If you haven’t read it, we hugely recommend you do so here! And, if you have, our latest podcast may be of interest to you, in which Jack comes back from holiday after missing all the reporting to ask Ophira what really went down behind the scenes. You can listen to that on Spotify below, or on any other Podcast provider here...

Ok, now back to business.

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Mummy issues: should we still be gawping at human remains?

Manchester Museum is known in the city and beyond as "the one with the mummies”. It started over 200 years ago, when the mummified remains of a woman named Asru were unwrapped by the museum's precursor. Two centuries later, we live in a vastly different world, but Asru remains on show. After a year-long consultation to determine if Asru should be kept on display, the museum will reveal changes to its Egypt and Sudan gallery next week.

Later this month, we’re heading back to the museum (avid Millers will remember our sold-out event earlier this year) to debate some of the big questions: should we still be looking at human remains? Should the museum send the mummies back? And should we even be calling them mummies?

Join us on 24 September for a night of discussion. Bring your opinions, museum memories and thinking caps. Tickets are £3.50 for our members and £5 for non-members – grab yours below.

Grab your tickets now

Manchester has a new leader, who is he?

When Bev Craig took over from Sir Richard Leese as Manchester City Council leader in 2021, many watched with bated breath. Leese had been leader for 25 years, giving Manchester’s Labour group an aura of near-invincibility. He set the city a clear mission: grow. Many were worried when Craig took over she would take it off of that course. Some of the city’s key investors and the power brokers of its development community were genuinely concerned.

But last night, when Garry Bridges was selected as Craig’s successor, far less interest surrounded the race, or how Bridges would take the reins after Craig. “I’ve not had any conversations with anyone in our industry about who is replacing Bev Craig,” one big developer tells me. When I ask specifically about Bridges, they say: “I don’t know who he is, what he stands for, no idea.”

Formerly the council’s deputy leader, Bridges works in Lucy Powell’s parliamentary office: a close ally of Craig’s, and well-respected for his work as the council’s executive for children and young people. All this made him a natural successor. Though he didn’t win decisively. Beating Clayton and Openshaw councillor Tom Robinson by just one vote, Bridge’s win has outlined a divide within the group over who ought to lead it into what is expected to be a difficult few months.

Responding to Bridges’ selection, chair of the Labour group’s nomination committee and eternal councillor for Harpurhey Pat Karney described the leadership contest as “friendly and orderly”.  He assured the MEN that “town-hall drama” was minimised.

As it turns out, that wasn’t strictly true. 

A few days before the selection meeting Munaver Rasul — a relatively unknown Baguley councillor who was recently suspended by the party (for reasons no one seems that clear on) then reinstated — sent an email to all group members declaring he’d be running for the leadership. 

“He wasn’t on the list of people to be interviewed” one plugged-in Labour member tells me. I called Rasul, but when he answered I could only hear what sounded like him doing a scratchcard. When I called a second time, it sounded like he was reading a book.