It was ironic that a giant of local government should have been remembered with a two-inch high Lego statue key ring – but it summed up Sir Howard Bernstein perfectly.
Dressed in his beloved Manchester City FC kit, it had his initials ‘SHB’ on the back alongside the number 71 – in reference to the fact he started working in the town hall in 1971.
The man who held the keys to Manchester City Council for more than 40 years will continue to hold the keys – literally – of the people tasked with continuing his legacy.
Yesterday’s memorial service was the perfect celebration of the life and work of a man who had done more than any other to build modern Manchester.
Born into a Jewish family in Cheetham Hill in 1953, he was the son of a raincoat manufacturer who arrived at Manchester City Council as an 18-year-old tea boy and left 46 years later, his legend secure
The guest list was an A-Z of everybody who was anybody, many of whom had no doubt enjoyed a ‘cup of tea and a chat’ with the great man in Room 212 of the historic Manchester Town Hall.
‘NO RED, SCARVES WELCOME’ had been the instruction on the invitation and The Bridgewater Hall had never seen so many of Man City’s navy blue and white retro scarves.
All that was missing was a rendition of Blue Moon and you could have been at his second home of the Etihad Stadium.
Fittingly, the opening speaker was Eamonn Boylan, Manchester City Council’s interim chief executive until Tom Stannard, who was in the audience, takes over in the New Year.
Boylan, who has himself enjoyed a 40+ year in public service, is a diehard Manchester United and said as a ‘bitter Red’ he couldn’t bring himself to wear a blue and white scarf – not even for Sir Howard.
The two colleagues had worked together for three decades and Boylan said Sir Howard was a man who ‘identified talent and then backed it’ and ‘delivered time and time again’.
His list of achievements included bringing the 2002 Commonwealth Games to Manchester; rebuilding the city after the 1996 IRA bomb; and delivering key projects like the £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and, more recently, Aviva Studio.
As photos of Sir Howard – and many of the projects he was involved in – appeared on the big screen, Boylan remembered him as someone who ‘always had a plan and ‘turning adversity into opportunity’.
He described devolution as a work in progress but said: “We would be not be where we are without Sir Howard’s leadership.
“He worked all the hours in the day and into the evening …. he was demanding when it came to doing what was in Manchester’s interests. We’ve been truly privileged to work with a remarkable man.”
The memorial heard video interviews from some of the beneficiaries of Manchester’s Rising Stars Fund, which has been supported by the Sir Howard Bernstein Endowment Fund, before a live performance from the violinist Helena Logah.
The next tribute came from former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who said: “Sir Howard was the single most important and influential civil servant of the modern era.”
He described him as ‘an artist in the art of administration’ and said he thought about places rather than organisations.
Osborne, who was Chancellor from 2010-16, worked closely with Sir Howard on devolution and the creation of elected mayors.
“No other city was coming to me with the same ideas as Manchester,” he recalled. “Howard was a master of diplomacy .. and (would) let others take the credit.”
Osborne said he spent many evenings with Sir Howard but one in particular stood out.
He said the measure of the man was not how he was treated when he was in power but how he was treated after he’d lost his job.
Osborne recalled travelling up to Manchester to discuss the creation of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), to act as a leading voice of business and civic leaders across the North.
“He made it happen as he’s done for so many decades for so many people,” he said. “We’ll miss him but we won’t forget him.”
Sir Howard’s life-long love affair with Manchester City FC was remembered in a speech by board member Marty Edelman.
“We miss him so much because of the way he made us feel,” he said. “He was always about creating a ‘win/win’.”
He said the litmus test for Sir Howard was ‘promises kept, not promises made’ and ended his tribute by referencing one of his trademark phrases: “And yes Howard, I do see your point.”
After a video rendition of the Hashkiveinu prayer by Cantor Azi Schwartz, the final part of the memorial service was taken up with family tributes.
They ranged from a collection of his favourite phrases – including ‘Beam me up Scottie’; ‘You couldn’t make it up’; and ‘You see my point?’ – to his passion for Lego and the devotion of his wife Lady Vanessa.
His son Jonathan Bernstein said his father’s ‘fingerprints were all over the city’ and spoke of his ‘sense of fun and mischief’.
Images of Sir Howard with the likes of President Bill Clinton and the Queen appeared on the big screen, alongside intimate photos with his devoted family.
Bernstein said his father’s laugh was ‘incomparable’ and described his response to his illness as ‘heroic’.
The audience filed out to the sound of Tina Turner’s ‘Simply The Best’. Few would disagree.
Sir Howard Bernstein 1953-2024