Andy Burnham has settled into No.10 after becoming Prime Minister earlier this week. Burnham, who was born in Aintree, replaced Sir Keir Starmer on Monday and his arrival into London has been documented across numerous TV and social media channels.
Burnham's wife Marie-France van Heel, also known as Frankie, was by his side as he made his first entrance into Downing Street. The Dutch marketing executive has been in a relationship with the Labour leader since their time at university.
Meeting at Cambridge
The couple met while studying at Cambridge, where they both studied English, and Burnham graduated with an upper second-class Bachelor of Arts degree. He married his partner in 2000 and they are the proud parents of three children. They have son Jimmy and two daughters, Rosie and Annie.
The Prime Minister has kept his family and private life out of the limelight over the years. But with the move to Downing Street, what do we know about his wife Marie-France?
Background and career
The 56-year-old was born in January 1970 in Roslyn, Pennsylvania. She lived in several countries as a child as her parents were originally from the Netherlands. Marie-France moved to the UK to study at Cambridge in the late 80s.
After university, she worked in marketing including for Sky. She was also involved in the logo designs for the BBC and England Rugby and later worked at her own marketing firm, MVH Marketing.
Marie-France joined Burnham for his Labour Party leadership election campaign in 2015, but made the decision to avoid the public eye shortly after.
Family life and move to London
The family-of-five live in Golbourne, although Burnham will now split his time between London and the North West. He is reportedly planning a new hub for politics up north as well as in London.
Burnham was born in Aintree before moving to Culcheth, near Warrington. He remained in the North West throughout his career and lived in Greater Manchester as he became the Mayor in 2017.
In 2017, Burnham was re-elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester and remained in the position until his decision to step down in 2026. He became the MP for Makerfield in June 2026, before becoming the Prime Minister on July 20.
Burnham was officially recognised as the new PM by Buckingham Palace on Monday.
Sir Keir announced his resignation on June 22 after losing support from his ministers and MPs, triggering the leadership election, which realistically was only going to be won by one person.
Burnham had the overwhelming backing of Labour MPs, with more than 90% of them publicly supporting him to be the new leader. The fact that no other candidates entered the race meant that there would be no public vote amongst Labour members and no real contest.
Mr Burnham wrote exclusively in the ECHO last week ahead of the passing of the new Hillsborough Law through the House of Commons. In his first speech since his return to parliament, he praised not just the Hillsborough families, but the people of Liverpool.
