Dear Millers – first, some good news: we won a big gong in London last night!
Here's Mollie collecting her British Journalism Award from telly's Jeremy Vine for her extraordinary investigation into the University of Greater Manchester, which was recognised by the judges as the best piece of local journalism in the country this year. The story has prompted a major fraud investigation by the police, the suspension of senior university officials and several mentions in parliament, and as luck would have it, we have another update coming up this weekend. Huge congratulations to Mollie and all the others (Joshi as editor, Natalie our lawyer, Jake our illustrator, and all the others who quietly help when we need them) whose work goes into a successful investigation like this.
Now for today's story. Since we published our story about misconduct by senior executives at Manchester City Council, its ripples have been spreading. We've seen the suspension of Rochdale's council chief executive, coverage in the national press and increasing pressure on leaders in both Manchester and Rochdale to explain why they seemingly didn't act until the information came out via The Mill.
That pressure, as we report below, is coming not just from journalists but from rank and file staff. Manchester's elected leader Bev Craig and the council's chief executive Tom Stannard felt the need to convene a video call earlier this week, attended by an astonishing 2,500 staff, in which they tried to explain their response to the scandal and answer questions from their colleagues. Scroll down for more details on that, and the latest updates from Rochdale too.
📈 Before that, we are closing in on 1,000 new members! Our campaign ends on Sunday night and we've just passed 925 on our utterly addictive online counter. Three days left, 75 members to find. A football commentator would say that it's "set up perfectly". It's been a monumental effort by the entire Miller community, so if you can help us to get to our target by buying a gift sub, getting a friend to join (for a price they choose) or sharing the campaign with friends, that would be wonderful.
Everyone has been sharing the campaign link magnificently, including Jan Hicks ("Pay what you feel for quality journalism that spotlights local issues and generates national coverage"), Prof. Matthew Cobb ("You can choose how much to pay for the first few months. If you value local journalism - wherever you live - sign up!), Tony Britton ("My heart sings! I cancelled The Times today to make room for The Mill. Britain's best online local newspaper") and lots of members who appeared in a fantastic video about why they read us. If LinkedIn is your place, this horrifying screenshot from the MEN is continuing to attract likes and new Mill members.
A special shout out to Prof. Bob Johnson (professors are much maligned but they have really come through in this campaign) who has distributed hundreds of copies of our special print edition to his neighbours and who – along with the indefatigable Niall Power – is in danger of winning the highly sought-after Mill Medal of Freedom.
If you want to join The Mill as a paying member to read and support award-winning local journalism, you can choose your price for your first two months of membership if you join up before Sunday.
It's because of our thousands of paying members that we can do the kind of work that Mollie won her award for last night - journalism that holds local power to account in a way that no one has been doing for years. If you believe in this work, please join up now.
Your briefing
🚆 Andy Burnham has announced which railways will be the first to be integrated into the Bee Network next year. Lines from Glossop and Stalybridge will join the network on 13 December 2026, the same day tap-in, tap-out ticketing will be introduced at national rail stations across GM. Six more railways are set to join the Bee Network in 2027 and 2028, in what does appear to be extremely good news for local transport. “We are on the cusp of delivering a fully integrated, world-class transport system for our global city-region," Burnham said. "These changes will make everyday journeys easier and open up new opportunities for people across Greater Manchester.”
🗿 Great relief for Wigan antiques shop owner Grant Adamson, who appears to have dodged a possible fine for putting a sculpture of a naked gladiator outside his shop. Adamson was told a fine could be coming his way if he failed to remove ‘Golden Balls’, as the sculpture is known, from the shopfront, but he stood firm, telling BBC Radio Manchester he was prepared to take the matter to court. But Wigan Council changed tact, sending a follow-up letter telling Adamson to disregard the first one, and allowing the golden gladiator — which was originally used to advertise the 2000 film Gladiator starring Russell Crowe — to remain in pride of place outside Grant’s Bulldog Force. Adamson said they had “seen sense”.
🎄 Stuck for locally-themed Christmas gifts for the proud Mancunian in your life? We've been made aware of a Tony Wilson calendar being sold by the Tony Wilson Archive for £20 "featuring 12 different TW looks to keep you inspired each month". If the recipient you have in mind isn't a Wilson fan, how about this very pretty map of Manchester 100 years ago, or these custom Manchester tiles? Or, for the hardest-to-please loved ones, the most discerning person in your life, the only option would appear to be a scandalously discounted gift subscription to The Mill.
🚨 And don't forget: we're hiring! If you know someone who might make a brilliant marketing and events assistant for us, please send them our job ad. It's a full-time – and extremely varied – role, and the deadline for applications is Sunday 4 January.
If you want to read today's story, get access to all of our award-winning members-only journalism and support our mission, please join up as a member today before our campaign comes to an end. Until Sunday, you can pay whatever you can afford for your first two months of membership. If you don’t think you’re getting good value in that time period you can simply quit and lose nothing. But if you do want to stay, you’ll become part of a community that reads and supports high-quality journalism in Greater Manchester - impactful reporting that gives you new perspectives and gets incredible results.
Manchester's council leaders are facing a growing backlash from staff over their handling of sexual misconduct allegations
On Monday afternoon, more than 2,500 Manchester council workers joined a video call chaired by the council’s leader Bev Craig and its chief executive Tom Stannard. You might expect that Craig and Stannard were giving an end-of-year pep talk to their staff, or thanking them for their work this year.
In fact, the call was organised at short notice in an attempt to quell what has been described to The Mill as a growing sense of anger about allegations of sexual misconduct by senior council executives and how they were handled.
Less than a fortnight ago, we revealed the existence of a confidential report written by an external law firm which examined “sleazy” behaviour on a night out after a council staff awards ceremony this time last year. The report said that the council’s assistant chief executive James Binks “inappropriately touched and grinded against” one young female colleague, and that its deputy CEO Paul Marshall “worked on” the young woman with Binks.
Jack Dulhanty
According to the report, HR director Mike Bennett witnessed the behaviour, but our reporting suggested that he did not initiate disciplinary proceedings against his colleagues. In fact, it was only seven months later, when staff members at the council submitted a formal complaint, that the council asked Weightmans, an external law firm, to investigate.
During that delay, Binks left the council for a £200,000 job as chief executive of Rochdale Council. He has now been suspended from that role, and Rochdale’s council leader Neil Emmott is under pressure to explain why he didn’t act sooner. The story has made its way to the national press, and the Guardian reported last week that council officers “received the findings of an inquiry into his [Binks’] conduct more than five weeks ago but did not act until after the details were published by the Manchester Mill.”
Sara Rowbotham, a former deputy council leader in Rochdale who is best known for her role blowing the whistle on the town’s grooming scandal, told the Guardian that there are “serious questions” about why Manchester council failed to alert Rochdale that they were investigating Binks, and “why – having been given a redacted copy of the report – it sat with [Rochdale] legal officers for a month” before the leader was presented with options on how to act.
We understand that Binks is appearing before a council committee today to answer questions about his conduct.
In recent weeks, Marshall and Bennett have both left Manchester City Council, and it’s the nature of their departures that seems to be causing disquiet among some council staff. Following our reporting, an open letter addressed to council executives circulated amongst staff asking why “senior leaders have only acknowledged parts of the issue because they have been made public” and why “these men have been given the option to negotiate their departure”.
Signed by “Concerned Staff”, the letter accuses the council of making its female staff unsafe by failing to crack down on harassment. “To openly celebrate a perpetrator in an all-staff broadcast knowing allegations against him had been substantiated undermines the promises of zero tolerance”. One staff member reported seeing hundreds of signatures on the letter, but they don’t know how many it ended up with or if it was delivered to senior leaders.
The reference to an “all-staff broadcast” seems to refer to an email sent by chief executive Tom Stannard in early November announcing that his deputy Paul Marshall was leaving the council at the end of the month. The email praised Marshall for overseeing the transformation of Manchester’s children’s services, and said: “We would wish Paul well in his pursuit of other opportunities and interests”.
We have repeatedly asked the council whether Marshall and Bennett were allowed to resign from the council rather than being sacked, and whether they ever faced any disciplinary action for their roles in the misconduct highlighted by the Weightmans report, but they have not told us. Two staff members have told us that Marshall and Bennett were asked not to come to the office from August onwards, which coincides with when Weightmans was commissioned to look into the matter.
We understand this followed a brief internal investigation by the City Solicitor. The council has not denied that Marshall and Bennett were asked to stay away. “It was so that the women could go into the office and wouldn’t have to see them,” one female staff member told us.
There is disbelief among some council workers that the behaviour of Binks and Marshall was not investigated earlier. “Everyone knew something happened at the awards, there were whispers about what had gone on,” one staff member who asked not to be named out of fear of being “blacklisted” and prevented from progressing in their role, told The Mill. “No one is shocked.”
In the video call on Monday, Standard said he and council leader Craig were “disgusted” by sexual harassment, and repeatedly said that they take the treatment of female staff very seriously. Stannard said he was “acutely aware” of the need to protect whistleblowers and promised action in response to this situation, which he said would be formulated with staff and trade unions.
Stannard and Craig took questions, which staff could submit anonymously via Microsoft Teams. One question raised a perceived gap in how the incidents reported by The Mill were being seen by rank and file staff and how they were being handled by the council’s leadership. Another staff member identifying themselves only as a young woman asked to be assured that, if they reported an incident of sexual assault, the council would provide support and not try to protect the perpetrator. Stannard replied: “I think that individual can be assured by the assurances we’re giving”.
A council spokesperson said that “holding this meeting reflected the seriousness with which the Chief Executive and Leader of the council take this issue. Further engagement and communications with our staff on this subject are planned, including in-person meetings.”
If you know more about this story, please get in touch.
Three days remain, less than 100 new members to find. To help us hit our target we’re offering you the opportunity to pay whatever you can afford for your first two months of membership. If you don’t think you’re getting good value in that time period you can simply quit and lose nothing. But if you do want to stay you’ll become part of our mission to rebuild what has been lost in the past few decades, and help us unlock six amazing pledges for Manchester.
