Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he did not know if 'nice bloke' Andy Burnham was tough enough
Sir Jim Ratcliffe pictured at the F1 Grand Prix in Miami(Image: Getty Images)
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has questioned if Andy Burnham 'has the grit' to tackle the UK's problems.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Manchester United's billionaire co-owner said he 'likes' Burnham, who he described as a 'really nice bloke'. But, comparing the PM's situation to the one he encountered when he took over at Old Trafford, he urged Mr Burnham to be tough and make unpopular decisions to improve the UK.
"If you look at what we did at Manchester United, in the beginning we had a club which was financially in a poor place and we needed to deal with it which was extremely unpopular,” said Sir Jim, who face widespread criticism after he cut 450 jobs at Manchester United and closed the staff canteen.
Describing the UK's two 'biggest issues' as immigration and benefits, Sir Jim, founder of chemical company Ineos, said: "To deal with both of those we need to have somebody who’s tough enough, and who’s going to make decisions which are good for the economy - not just good for them or their party.
"And nobody’s doing that. Everyone is skirting around the problem, pushing the ball down the road instead of sorting it out. Has Andy got the grit? I don’t know. The proof of it will be in the next 12 months. Is he going to tackle these problems?"
In February, Mr Burnham, then Mayor of Greater Manchester, offered a stinging rebuke after Sir Jim, who has a net worth of around £15bn, said that 'the UK has been colonised by immigrants'.
Mr Burnham described the comments as 'going against everything for which Manchester has traditionally stood'. And in what appears to be a reference to the Glazer ownership of United, he spoke of 'those who have offered little contribution to our life here and have instead spent years siphoning wealth out of one of our proudest institutions'.
Paul has called on Andy Burnham to intervene
Sir Jim Ratcliffe questioned if Andy Burnham 'had the grit' to solve the UK's problems(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
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Sir Jim's comments follow remarks he made in a BBC interview today when he said he has 'no confidence in the UK' and that the country is 'on the slide'.
The businessman, who is a resident of the tax exile of Monaco, told the BBC's Big Boss Interview: "I think the UK, unfortunately, it was a fantastic place. We had the greatest empire in the world.
"We were a great people. We won two world wars. We’re good, honest folk.
"But unfortunately, at the moment, I think the UK is on the slide. It’s quite difficult to see how we arrest it. Two things: we need politicians who are tough enough to deal with some very difficult problems, and we know what the problems are."
United supporters' club tell Ratcliffe to go
Following his comments to the BBC, Manchester United's Muslim Supporters Club issued a scathing statement of no confidence in the co-owner.
They said: "Earlier this year, MUMSC publicly challenged Sir Jim Ratcliffe after his comments that the UK had been 'colonised by immigrants.' We condemned those comments then. He subsequently apologised for his choice of language. We hoped a lesson had been learned. Clearly, it has not.
"This week, Sir Jim has again placed immigration and people receiving benefits at the centre of his explanation for Britain's problems, arguing that nobody is 'tough enough' to deal with either. We find these latest comments deeply disappointing and completely unacceptable.
"Once again, immigrants and some of the most vulnerable people in society are being presented as part of the problem by one of Britain's wealthiest individuals. And the hypocrisy is difficult to ignore. Once again, instead of focusing on years of allowing corporate greed to prosper at the expense of political investment in key institutions and infrastructure, which would have benefited Britain, he is scapegoating and deflecting political mishandling and mismanagement onto racialised communities, playing into populist tropes that are bereft of accurate academic rigour."