Marie-France van Heel: The marketing boss who is Andy Burnham’s wife of 25 years

Andy Burnham will become British prime minister on Monday following the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer.

The former Greater Manchester mayor will be flanked by his wife of 25 years, Marie-France van Heel.

Ms. van Heel, who was born in the Netherlands, and Mr. Burnham have been together for decades; They first met in 1989 when they were undergraduates at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

The two bonded over a shared love of The Smiths.

But their relationship began to change after Ms van Heel appeared on the ITV programme. Blind DateLed by Cilla Black in 1992.

Mr Burnham said he watched the program from behind the sofa.

Wearing a blonde headband over her blonde bob, Ms. van Heel chose “Will from Surrey” for her date.

But the pair did not get along, with Ms van Heel throwing a pillow at the TV date, describing her as a “cold fish”.

“Will from Surrey”, also known as Will Harris, became the marketing director of the Conservative Party.

Ms van Heel and Mr Burnham were married in 2000. They have a son and two daughters, plus a bichon frize named Axel, and the family is said to be close-knit.

Ms. van Heel has spent most of her professional career in marketing.

After working at BSkyB, he founded MVH Marketing and later became chief strategy officer of London-based agency Heavenly, working on campaigns for HSBC, England Rugby and the BBC.

He is currently marketing manager at Iduna Infrastructure, which owns the bulk of Manchester’s electric vehicle charging network.

Following questions about a possible conflict of interest, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham stepped away from decisions regarding Iduna and announced his wife’s job.

Ms van Heel has largely stayed out of the spotlight since her husband first became an MP in 2001.

He did not join Mr Burnham on stage after his speech accepting the leadership of the Labor Party on Friday.

However, they were photographed embracing in the lounge of the TUC’s headquarters in London, with their children also sitting in the front row.

It remains to be seen how visible Ms van Heel will choose to be when she takes up residence at No 10 as the prime minister’s wife.