With Andy Burnham now the UK’s prime minister, attention has turned from his running shorts to the woman joining him in Downing Street: Andy’s wife of more than 25 years, the very impressive Marie-France van Heel. The marketing executive, born in the Netherlands, is fairly private – she doesn’t have an Instagram account where she’s sharing regular updates of the family dog, Axel, for example – but here's what we know.
Who is Marie-France van Heel?
Born in January 1970, Marie-France van Heel grew up in the Netherlands and Belgium before moving to the UK and attending the University of Cambridge. She’s long worked in marketing and strategy, having held jobs with Sky, and has a skill in logo design, having been involved in creating logos for the BBC, England Rugby, and her husband’s campaign. After working as the Chief Strategy Officer for branding consultancy Heavenly, she left to ‘follow her passion for sustainability and the green economy’. She’s currently the Chief Customer Officer for Be.EV, an electric vehicle charging company.
Along with her environmental work, Marie-France, also known as Franky, has had a huge amount of involvement in the charity space. She previously worked with Marie Curie, Great Ormond Street, and The Alzheimer’s Society, and sits on the board of trustees for Plan International UK. ‘It is a real honour to be a trustee,’ Marie-France said previously. The need to ensure children and girls have their voices heard and are empowered to lead the conversation has never been greater. I hope to help them take centre stage.’
Her profile on the Plan International UK website also says Marie-France speaks three languages. Told you she’s impressive.
In 2010, Marie-France underwent a double mastectomy after a genetic test showed she could be at risk of breast cancer, following the death of her sister Claire from the illness at the age of 39. She went on to take part in Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life multiple times.
Marie-France was previously fairly active on X (formerly known as Twitter) and LinkedIn, but in recent years has deleted all social media.
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How did Andy Burnham and Marie-France van Heel meet?
Andy Burnham met the woman who would become his wife while they were both studying at Cambridge, and Andy was in his second year of an English Literature degree, having been the first person in his family to attend university. They bonded over sharing a birth month and a love for Manchester’s music scene, and soon began dating. A professor who taught Andy described Marie-France as ‘the coolest girl in the college’ and said that when the pair got together there was ‘some surprise and a feeling that [Andy] had scooped the pools.’
But early in their relationship, Marie-France asked Andy if it was OK for her to appear on an episode of the classic ITV show Blind Date – yes, the one with Cilla Black. Rather than looking for love, Marie-France later confessed that she pursued the appearance in the hopes of raising her profile and helping her career. The date didn’t go especially well – Marie-France was matched up with ‘Will from Surrey’, who made up a poem that rhymed Frankie with ‘cranky’ and, after their date, called her a ‘cold fish’. Marie-France ended up throwing a pillow at Will (deserved) and telling him to ‘f*** off’.
What is Andy Burnham and Marie-France van Heel’s relationship like?
With Will from Surrey posing no competition, Marie-France and Andy continued to date and in March 2000 welcomed their son, Jimmy, then six months later got married. Andy has said that the birth of their first child was a solid prompt to tie the knot, commenting: ‘in an abstract way I think it’s better when children are in a home where their parents are married.’ Andy has said that he’s fairly ‘old-fashioned’ in his views on marriage, but only ‘up to a point’ – ‘I have to admit that Jimmy, my eldest son, was at our wedding.’
Shortly after the wedding, Andy and Marie-France moved up to Manchester, where Andy was then an MP. The couple’s daughters, Rosie and Annie, came along a few years later. The family, completed by a rescued bichon frisé named Axel, has been described by Andy as ‘tight’.
Andy Burnham hasn’t spoken much about his wife or his relationship, but did offer up some words when Marie-France underwent her double mastectomy, telling the Daily Mirror: ‘The decision was liberating rather than depressing because it's lifted the cloud of fear. She did what she did because she'd seen the devastation breast cancer had caused to her sisters and mother. We more than most know what could have happened and we had to find a way to get beyond it.’
Andy has also previously spoken out about criticism launched at him and his wife, specifically around accusations that Marie-France’s finances had a connection to Manchester’s plan for a Clean Air Zone. ‘Some of the claims that have been made about my wife are frankly disgraceful,’ Andy said. ‘I have set out the facts and ask that this now stops.’
