Andy Burnham’s Wife Marie-France van Heel Maintains Private Profile as He Becomes Prime Minister

Andy Burnham arrived in London on June 22 after winning a by-election to become the new MP for Makerfield and Britain’s prime minister. His wife, Marie-France van Heel, traveled with him in the same taxi. The couple has three children. Van Heel was born in the Netherlands and raised partly in Belgium.

She met Burnham while both were students at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where she captained a women’s football team. The pair began dating after bonding over music by The Smiths. In 1992, Van Heel appeared on the television dating show Blind Date.

She traveled to Gibraltar with contestant Will Harris but the pair did not form a relationship. Burnham later said he watched the broadcast from behind a sofa.

Heel worked at BSkyB before founding MVH Marketing in 2008. The company was dissolved in 2011. She later became chief strategy officer at branding consultancy Heavenly and chief marketing officer at Iduna, which operates electric vehicle chargers in Manchester.

She has served on the board of Plan International UK and advised the Alzheimer’s Society, Marie Curie, and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Some observers have linked her to the design of Burnham’s campaign materials.

The couple married in 2000.

Their son Jimmy was born that year; daughters Rosie and Annie were born after the family moved to Greater Manchester in 2001. All three children attended St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic state school. Van Heel underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2010 after genetic testing showed an elevated risk of breast cancer.