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The chairman of the Premier League is on the brink of resigning following a backlash from clubs over its handling of the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United.

Sky News has learnt that Gary Hoffman, who only took up the non-executive post 18 months ago, is close to finalising his exit after coming under pressure to quit in the last few weeks.

An announcement about his departure could be made in the coming days, an executive at one top flight club said.

New Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan (left) and Amanda Staveley prior to kick-off in the Premier League match at St. James' Park, Newcastle. Picture date: Sunday October 17, 2021.
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The consortium that took over Newcastle includes the financier Amanda Staveley

There remained a chance that Mr Hoffman could change his mind if a sufficient number of clubs sought to persuade him to do so, the insider added, although the likelihood of that appears slim.

All 20 top flight clubs are understood to have been briefed on the situation.

Mr Hoffman’s impending resignation follows weeks of unrest about the decision to allow the £305m purchase of Newcastle by a consortium spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

It comes at a sensitive time for English football, with a wide-ranging review overseen by the former sports minister, Tracey Crouch, expected to be published next week.

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Ms Crouch’s report will recommend the establishment of IREF (the Independent Regulator for English Football), which will assume new powers to regulate the ownership and governance of professional clubs.

The departure of Mr Hoffman, a business heavyweight who helped keep Northern Rock alive after its nationalisation during the 2008 financial crisis, is likely to provide ammunition to those who argue that English football’s power-brokers are incapable of self-regulation.

Former sports minister says the government's decision to bring forward a reduction in the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals is needed.
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A review by Tracey Crouch is expected to be published next week

It is also likely to raise questions about the appetite of credible candidates to replace him, given the demonstration of muscle-flexing power by Premier League clubs which has heralded his exit.

Some senior figures in the game argue that Mr Hoffman is being unfairly left to carry the can over the Newcastle deal, and say the League’s board was put in an impossible position.

Reports last month suggested that a vote of no confidence in Mr Hoffman was a possibility amid anger at the Magpies’ takeover.

His imminent exit comes even as the Premier League is close to securing record sums from the sale of its US television rights and with its broader finances in robust health in the context of the pandemic.

Nevertheless, it has faced criticism from an array of clubs that they should have been kept more closely informed about the progress of the protracted Newcastle negotiations.

Some club executives have also argued that the deal should have been blocked because of the Saudi regime’s poor human rights record.

The clubs’ complaints were swiftly rejected by the Premier League on account of its confidentiality obligations during discussions with the consortium, which also includes the financier Amanda Staveley and Jamie Reuben, a member of the billionaire property-owning family.

Nevertheless, a meeting of the 20 clubs last month resulted in an overwhelming vote to ban related-party transactions, with the effect of preventing Newcastle from striking sponsorship deals with entities connected to the Saudi state or its Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Crystal Palace fans in the stands hold up a banner criticising the new ownership of Newcastle United
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Some club executives argued the deal should have been blocked because of the Saudi regime’s human rights record

Only Newcastle opposed the motion, while Manchester City, which is owned by members of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, abstained.

Mr Hoffman, who is a lifelong fan of Coventry City, the Championship side, has had a high-flying career in business and finance, as well as serving as chair of the Football Foundation.

A former Barclays executive, he chaired Visa Europe, ran the insurer Hastings and now chairs Monzo, the digital bank.

He took on the chairmanship of the Premier League in June 2020, prior to the resumption of top-flight fixtures that had been delayed by the first UK-wide coronavirus lockdown.

Mr Hoffman was also thrust into the row about Project Big Picture, the initiative led by Liverpool and Manchester United to reduce the number of Premier League teams to 18 while channelling a portion of top flight revenues to the English Football League.

His stiffest test, however, came in April this year, when six English clubs confirmed that they had signed a bombshell agreement to join a new European Super League (ESL).

The project imploded in less than 48 hours amid a torrent of criticism from fans, politicians and football administrators including the Premier League.

Mr Hoffman oversaw the subsequent imposition of multimillion pound fines on the six clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – and the removal of their executives from key Premier League sub-committees.

An executive at one club which was part of the ESL project said: “He [Mr Hoffman] was a robust figure over the Super League issue but I have no desire to see him step down.

“His has been a pragmatic voice in the governance of the Premier League at a time of unprecedented turbulence.”

Assuming Mr Hoffman does step down, it risks leaving a vacuum in the league’s leadership at a critical time.

It is run by Richard Masters, its permanent chief executive since 2019 and he stand-in chief since late 2018.

The Premier League had run two failed processes to recruit a CEO to take on many of the responsibilities of Richard Scudamore, who was its chief executive and then executive chairman for nearly 20 years.

The likely exit of the Premier League chairman also comes as the Football Association prepares to welcome Debbie Hewitt, a leading businesswoman, as its first female chair.

The Premier League refused to comment on Tuesday, while Mr Hoffman could not be reached for comment.

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UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

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UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

The UK economy unexpectedly shrank in May, even after the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs were paused, official figures showed.

A standard measure of economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), contracted 0.1% in May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Rather than a fall being anticipated, growth of 0.1% was forecast by economists polled by Reuters as big falls in production and construction were seen.

It followed a 0.3% contraction in April, when Mr Trump announced his country-specific tariffs and sparked a global trade war.

A 90-day pause on these import taxes, which has been extended, allowed more normality to resume.

This was borne out by other figures released by the ONS on Friday.

Exports to the United States rose £300m but “remained relatively low” following a “substantial decrease” in April, the data said.

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Overall, there was a “large rise in goods imports and a fall in goods exports”.

A ‘disappointing’ but mixed picture

It’s “disappointing” news, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said. She and the government as a whole have repeatedly said growing the economy was their number one priority.

“I am determined to kickstart economic growth and deliver on that promise”, she added.

But the picture was not all bad.

Growth recorded in March was revised upwards, further indicating that companies invested to prepare for tariffs. Rather than GDP of 0.2%, the ONS said on Friday the figure was actually 0.4%.

It showed businesses moved forward activity to be ready for the extra taxes. Businesses were hit with higher employer national insurance contributions in April.

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The expansion in March means the economy still grew when the three months are looked at together.

While an interest rate cut in August had already been expected, investors upped their bets of a 0.25 percentage point fall in the Bank of England’s base interest rate.

Such a cut would bring down the rate to 4% and make borrowing cheaper.

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Is Britain going bankrupt?

Analysts from economic research firm Pantheon Macro said the data was not as bad as it looked.

“The size of the manufacturing drop looks erratic to us and should partly unwind… There are signs that GDP growth can rebound in June”, said Pantheon’s chief UK economist, Rob Wood.

Why did the economy shrink?

The drops in manufacturing came mostly due to slowed car-making, less oil and gas extraction and the pharmaceutical industry.

The fall was not larger because the services industry – the largest part of the economy – expanded, with law firms and computer programmers having a good month.

It made up for a “very weak” month for retailers, the ONS said.

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UK economy remains fragile – and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

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UK economy remains fragile - and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

Monthly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures are volatile and, on their own, don’t tell us much.

However, the picture emerging a year since the election of the Labour government is not hugely comforting.

This is a government that promised to turbocharge economic growth, the key to improving livelihoods and the public finances. Instead, the economy is mainly flatlining.

Output shrank in May by 0.1%. That followed a 0.3% drop in April.

Ministers were celebrating a few months ago as data showed the economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter.

Hangover from artificial growth

However, the subsequent data has shown us that much of that growth was artificial, with businesses racing to get orders out of the door to beat the possible introduction of tariffs. Property transactions were also brought forward to beat stamp duty changes.

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In April, we experienced the hangover as orders and industrial output dropped. Services also struggled as demand for legal and conveyancing services dropped after the stamp duty changes.

Many of those distortions have now been smoothed out, but the manufacturing sector still struggled in May.

Signs of recovery

Manufacturing output fell by 1% in May, but more up-to-date data suggests the sector is recovering.

“We expect both cars and pharma output to improve as the UK-US trade deal comes into force and the volatility unwinds,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

Meanwhile, the services sector eked out growth of 0.1%.

A 2.7% month-to-month fall in retail sales suppressed growth in the sector, but that should improve with hot weather likely to boost demand at restaurants and pubs.

Struggles ahead

It is unlikely, however, to massively shift the dial for the economy, the kind of shift the Labour government has promised and needs in order to give it some breathing room against its fiscal rules.

The economy remains fragile, and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner.

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Is Britain going bankrupt?

Concerns that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is considering tax hikes could weigh on consumer confidence, at a time when businesses are already scaling back hiring because of national insurance tax hikes.

Inflation is also expected to climb in the second half of the year, further weighing on consumers and businesses.

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Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

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Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

The government is speeding up its adoption of AI to try and encourage economic growth – with backing from Facebook parent Meta.

It will today announce a $1m (£740,000) scheme to hire up to 10 AI “experts” to help with the adoption of the technology.

Sir Keir Starmer has spoken repeatedly about wanting to use the developing technology as part of his “plan for change” to improve the UK – with claims it could produce tens of billions in savings and efficiencies.

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The government is hoping the new hires could help with problems like translating classified documents en masse, speeding up planning applications or help with emergency responses when power or internet outages occur.

The funding for the roles is coming from Meta, through the Alan Turing Institute. Adverts will go live next week, with the new fellowships expected to start at the beginning of 2026.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This fellowship is the best of AI in action – open, practical, and built for public good. It’s about delivery, not just ideas – creating real tools that help government work better for people.”

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He added: “The fellowship will help scale that kind of impact across government, and develop sovereign capabilities where the UK must lead, like national security and critical infrastructure.”

The projects will all be based on open source models, meaning there will be a minimal cost for the government when it comes to licensing.

Meta describes its own AI model, Llama, as open source, although there are questions around whether it truly qualifies for that title due to parts of its code base not being published.

The owner of Facebook has also sponsored several studies into the benefits of government adopting more open source AI tools.

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Mr Kyle’s Department for Science and Technology has been working on its mission to increase the uptake of AI within government, including through the artificial intelligence “incubator”, under which these fellowships will fall.

The secretary of state has pointed to the success of Caddy – a tool that helps call centre workers search for answers in official documents faster – and its expanding use across government as an example of an AI success story.

He said the tool, developed with Citizens Advice, shows how AI can “boost productivity, improve decision-making, and support frontline staff”. A trial suggested it could cut waiting times for calls in half.

My Kyle also recently announced a deal with Google to provide tech support to government and assist with modernisation of data.

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Joel Kaplan, the chief global affairs officer from Meta, said: “Open-source AI models are helping researchers and developers make major scientific and medical breakthroughs, and they have the potential to transform the delivery of public services too.

“This partnership with ATI will help the government access some of the brightest minds and the technology they need to solve big challenges – and to do it openly and in the public interest.”

Jean Innes, the head of the Alan Turing Institute, said: “These fellowships will offer an innovative way to match AI experts with the real world challenges our public services are facing.”

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