Andy Burnham honoured a bride's request by not attending her wedding at the building housing No 10 North in Manchester, sending a video message to the newlyweds instead.
Sarah Burwin had pleaded on TikTok in July for Burnham not to work from the building that day, which hosts the government's northern headquarters and the city's register office. She feared the security detail Burnham requires would ruin wedding photographs outside the venue when she got married on Friday.
Burwin told the prime minister he would be welcome at her wedding but asked him to give his security detail "an hour off". She later joked he could DJ the afterparty.
Video message to the couple
Burnham did not turn up but sent a video message to her and her new husband Fred. "Thank you so much for the invite. But sadly, I'm honouring your initial request for me to stay out of the way, as I'm filming this as I'm about to leave No 10 North for the day," Burnham said.
He added: "I couldn't let the day go by without sending you both a message. I hope you have the best day celebrating, and thank you for being such a good sport about No 10 North suddenly being a big part of your big day. The DJ set will have to wait for another time, but I hope you play some good tunes on my behalf, big Manchester bangers."
Burwin could be seen replying: "Oh my God. What a lad. I love him!"
No 10 North opening
Burnham opened No 10 North within the first few days of becoming prime minister, honouring a pledge he had made before he succeeded Keir Starmer. It falls under his new Office of the Prime Minister, which has taken in parts of the Cabinet Office, the Treasury and housing ministry. It will, in part, focus on economic growth policy across the country.
In her original video on TikTok, which has reached nearly 1.5m views, Burwin had posted: "I saw you set up your new gaff, No 10 North, at Heron House. I saw it on the news; gorgeous, love what you've done with the place. But I'm actually getting married there on 21 August, and on the news today, the place was surrounded with police, bollards, all sorts. A lot of stuff that wasn't there before.
"My trouble is, I was planning to get nice photos like after, the register office, outside, and I'm just a bit worried that all of this is kind of ruining the vibe."
